Memoirs of an N7: The Odin Convergence
by Arte of Warfare
Summary: Divergent AU. A law of nature has been violated. The universe corrects. For Naruto Namikaze, the ripples put him on a collision course with a wider universe he didn't know existed, and with a greater destiny. The scales have tipped and the darkness is stronger than it has any right to be. The odds are not in his favor. ABANDONED. Pending rewrite. See new story.
1. Prologue: Beginnings and Endings

**Author's** **Note**: Hey everyone, I noticed some reviews were getting a little confused with the timing of both the era and the perspective jumps. Please note: some of this is intentional as this prologue is merely to give you a vingette-like look at the events leading up to Naruto's entrance into the world of Mass Effect. These vignette's are important to the plot; very important. Themes, characterizations, hints at the future are all wrapped up here. If anyone has a great definitive timeline of the history of Naruto, I would love to be told! I've based timing off of the events of the Third Shinobi War if that helps.

As for any other confusion...well, I've tried to clear it up here. Let me know if I've succeeded! :)

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**Prologue: Ending and Beginnings**

"_There would be nothing I could do to you that would harm you more than what you're already doing to harm yourself...You are never going to amount to anything. You will always be the worthless muck people scrape from their shoes. You only get one life and you are wasting yours. That's a terrible shame. I doubt you will ever know what it is to be truly happy, to achieve anything of worth, to have genuine pride in yourself. You bring it all on yourself, and I could do no worse to you."_

― _**Terry Goodkind, Faith of the Fallen**_

_**CE 1175, Present Day: Unknown Place **_

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

The Void pressed on him from all sides. There barely _was_ a Him to even be pressed.

It smothered him, choked him, reached inside him and denied purchase on identity. Thought and memory was impossible under the weight of nonexistence and time. Time smashed him into a ball with its unceasing march and pressed against him unceasing. Any thought was difficult. Survival was an impulse rather than a thought. Madness lay in wait. But he strove to exist, despite the best efforts of time and isolation.

Nine burning lines of light made up the world in its entirety. No ground, no sky, no feeling, just burning radiance pushing back the horror of nothingness. Warmth on one side, aching, numbing cold on the other.

He'd have died without those burning lights.

Time advanced, unbeknownst to him. His world was artificial, he knew. He also knew that somehow, maybe, he'd had...something...a...name?

Yes.

A name, once. There was great power in a name...as if life snapped into place once you were explained in letters or symbols. He would continue to ponder on his name, he would continue trying to exist. If he could only remember his name…

_**Third Shinobi War; The Land of Ame, Site of the Battle of Ame**_

**JIRAIYA**

The Land of Ame was wet...and cold...and really just plain sucked.

Jiraiya admitted it to himself, _Ame is just plain terrible_. He rubbed his bleeding lip with a knuckle, gazing at the bright red liquid in thought. Hanzo the Salamander definitely represented this place well. He was named so because of his stupid salamanders. They weren't nearly as cool as toads, that was for damn sure.

Plus, he was kind of an asshole.

Honorable, yes. But nice? No. He was a dictator-for-life in every sense of the word; unyielding, highly skilled, and majorly paranoid. Of course, its not paranoia if they really were out to get you. And they were.

This happened to be, not that they knew it, the tail end of the Second Shinobi War. The Densetsu no Sannin hadn't been formed-until this battle. They fought, and fought, and fought-comrades died all around them but the three, Team Hiruzen, fought on. They pulled out all the stops against this beast of Ame.

It wasn't enough.

Mercy was not something they expected, but it was something they received. Breathing hard, Jiraiya released the chakra holding his Hari Jizo technique as Hanzo left them, his proclamation of their honorable defeat done. They'd lost, but were alive. He slumped. They had been fighting hard for a while now, his toads were back in their realm-huge furrows evident where their katanas cut into the ground. Oil was everywhere, accompanied by scorch marks from Fire techniques. Rain pelted the three of the newly-dubbed Densetsu no Sannin, mocking them with its unceasing, uncaring regularity. Tsunade and Orochimaru were in better shape than he was-figures. Tsunade's massive rack looked fantastic all wet like that though. The blonde noticed his stare, a vein pulsed in her forehead, "Get your eyes out my rack Jiraiya!"

Gah.

"But hime, now is the perfect time… you're exhausted and can't fight back! Besides, they are poking me in the eye, I can't help it! Its cold out here." He smiled and half-heartedly put on his nice-guy pose. It was a testament to how tired she was that she just settled with a sniff.

Orochimaru was pristine, of course. Ass.

He spoke in a sibilant voice, definitely tinged with something resembling fatigue, "We must report back, this...has not gone well. A pity we couldn't have captured him. " Jiraiya snorted. "Well, we're alive. That's something. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? My precious body is intact and that's all I care about." Tsunade rolled her eyes and Orochimaru gave him his usual deadpan look. But Jiraiya continued undaunted, "Dan and Nawaki will be happy to see you Tsunade-you know? And little Anko will be happy she still has her neechan there Mr. Snake-toes. Isn't that good enough for you guys?" Tsunade knuckled her back and followed Orochimaru as he walked towards a far Rice field and the road beyond it. Jiraiya scrambled to his feet and tagged along. Tsunade remarked, "I'm sure the Red Light district will shine brighter than ever for the triumphant return of their greatest patron…"

Orochimaru spoke over his shoulder at them, "Quiet you two. This war isn't over. We're still in hostile enemy territory and low on chakra. We have to make haste. So...I will flay alive the next person who speaks."

"Meh. Touchy-teme." Orochimaru shot Jiraiya a look so nasty it might've burnt a hole through something less sturdy than the Toad Sage. They popped soldier pills and took off across the plains as soon as they came a little further down the muddy, rain-choked roads that characterized almost all of Ame. They ran, sailing across open plains. Three hours later, Orochimaru held up a complex hand signal-standard ANBU code for halt; three chakra signatures were hiding just off the beaten path. It paid to be cautious.

**KONAN**

The three orphans and dog were feeling optimistic about their chances of avoiding conflict entirely...that is, until they heard the familiar sound of ninja traveling superhumanly fast. Ame was host to whole armies recently and it didn't take a genius to place the sound.

So they hid.

Konan was scared. She clutched the yellow lab, Chiba's, fur coat. Ninja's meant fighting and death and loud sounds, things she was hoping to avoid. She glanced at Nagato and Yahiko, their red and orange hair proving harder to hide then she had suspected it would be. She sighed and Yahiko glanced over at her, determination painted across his face, "Konan, don't be scared! Nagato and I will scare them off, we'll ambush them! They won't know what hit 'em!" The grin on his face was so self-assured she couldn't help but believe him a little, even though deep down she knew they had no chance against real ninja. Chiba walked his talk and sniffed. He seemed to concur with what she was saying. What she wouldn't give to be powerful like those Konoha-nins...like that beautiful kunoichi. Strong, feminine, intelligent, and deadly.

Nagato was quiet, he was always that way-quiet, always analyzing, trying to temper Yahiko's passions. She just backed them both up whenever she could. Nagato was different though, from her and Yahiko...he was more important somehow. Plus, he had power. She could feel it. Konan thought that maybe he had a Destiny with a capital D. Lately though, she'd thought that maybe she imagined it-that they weren't on the same path as before. Like something had changed...she wasn't sure but, she thought maybe big things were coming their way.

Sounds got louder-they were close! Then the sound stopped, just outside the copse of trees in which they took shelter.

Before she could react, Chiba barked and the four of them were grabbed by faceless attackers, dragged out into the rainy plains. They were on the border stretch, called No-Man's Land by some, between Konoha and Ame. She looked up and saw her three attackers, powerful looking ninja from Konoha, she recognized the headband. One ninja looked like a kabuki actor, he had geta on, and frankly looked ridiculous. A beautiful blonde kunoichi with a massive rack-she blushed-had her in her grasp, Nagato was being held by the Oil headband-wearing ninja, and Yahiko was struggling to escape the grasp of a very snake-like shinobi-he was terrifying. Pale white skin, large yellow eyes, and lank dark hair completed the look. The other two looked nice, but this one…

"Three useless children, hiding in the bushes. Fufufu. Must be orphans! How delightful..." The snakish shinobi spoke in a sibilant whisper, chilling in its delight. The kabuki shinobi looked askance at his comrade, then spoke-he was way too happy for a ninja in her opinion. "Don't be weird and creepy like that Orochimaru-people will think you like children… you know, that way. Heh." A tic appeared on the ninja named Orochimaru, but when he responded, his voice was ice, "Baka, we don't have time to be babysitting, we have to get back to Konoha and report. Even you, dumb as you are, know this!" Almost as soon as the snake was done speaking, the nice-looking ninja flapped his hands, waving it away. Yahiko spoke into the silence, "What the hell are you guys gonna do with us huh? Bring us back as enemy ninja? We'll fight you every step of the way!" His hands trembled. Nagato, quiet until now, spoke up-Konan and Yahiko looked at him in shock.

**NAGATO UZUMAKI**

"We won't slow you down! Please, won't you take us with you? We wish to become shinobi of Konoha...I need to be strong...strong enough to take revenge on those Mist thugs that killed my parents! Please!"

Nagato bowed low. Konan and Yahiko continued to gape. The blonde kunoichi rolled her eyes and the man the snakey ninja called Jiraiya smiled.

"It's your lucky day kids! I'm feeling generous! Whatdya say you come back with me to Konoha? We'll deal with the whole revenge shtick later."

Konan couldn't believe it!

**_Four Days After the End of the Third Shinobi War, back in Konohagakure_**

**HIRUZEN SARUTOBI**

When the newly dubbed Sannin stumbled through the gates of Konoha with three strange orphans in tow, Hiruzen Sarutobi simply didn't know what to make of it. He was proud as a sensei, yes-his students had survived a run-in with one of the most powerful S-class shinobi in the world and lived to tell the tale, fighting so valiantly and skillfully they impressed him. He granted them titles. That kind of crap just didn't happen in the Shinobi world that often. Needless to say, he was a happy about that part. But orphan-saving is a bit different...until he saw a myth shattered right in front of his eyes. The red-haired boy, definitely an Uzumaki, had the Rinnegan. That doujutsu, a blending of Senju and Uchiha DNA that hadn't been seen for two-hundred years at least! What did this mean?

The Sage of Six Paths had been the last known wielder and he was said to be immensely powerful-even by today's standards of shinobi. This could mean great things for the village...or mean terrible things were on the horizon.

Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't earned his nickname, 'God of Shinobi' for nothing and if there was anything he wasn't-it was foolhardy. He needed some help to piece what was going on together and nowhere was there a better man to see than Danzo Shimura...he could trust his old friend to understand the implications of this.

Yes. He'd go as soon as he could.

**_Three Years After the End War: Konoha Ninja Academy_**

**KUSHINA UZUMAKI**

Kushina hated the kids in her class. Strike. Picking on her for her beautiful, amazing, gorgeous red-hair was dumb. Strike. I mean, Tomato-chan? What kind of fucking name was that? Strike. What a bunch of bitches. Strike. Heh. She'd show them!

"Hiiyah!"

Chakra powered Kushina Uzumaki's fist through the training log she appropriated in the Academy grounds supposedly to practice her taijutsu. It really was just anger management though.

It exploded in a hurricane of splinters. She huffed and puffed. Taijutsu was her favorite-well besides Fuuinjutsu-cause she could beat up on people and her teachers called it, 'training.'

The only Uzumaki in Konoha was very much aware that she was alone-and anger helped her cope a little.

She could only beat on people for so long before she realized that it didn't solve any of her problems. But luckily, at the same time, she realized-albeit slowly-that the side effects of beating up on training posts and sitting and staring at tomes of ninjutsu was that she became-slowly-more powerful. People stopped picking on her as much for her hair...and started being nicer. She couldn't help but follow the logic to its end-Mito Uzumaki-Senju, the person who gifted her with the nasty fox, was powerful and respected and had a family. The Senju were prolific-and powerful. The Uchiha had family-and were powerful. It seemed to her that power led to respect...and in turn, family somehow factored in. And the most powerful person in Konoha? The Hokage!

Hmm.

She'd...she'd have to be really powerful to become the hokage. If she was the Hokage… people would want to be part of her new family! Then she'd have everything she would ever want. She could MAKE a new family!

She had to become the Hokage!

She noticed girly Namikaze watching her train. Stupid baka.

With his cute hair and cute blue eyes! Gah, what the hell was she saying?

She blushed. She scowled.

He gulped and turned around to continue attacking his log with a kunai in either hand. She noticed he was pretty fast. Kinda cute too… she blushed and scowled again, definitely a habit, and promptly broke another piece off the training log with a round-house kick. She'd need a partner to help her make a family right?

Stupid girly boys.

A short time later, she halted, dripping with sweat, as their academy teacher shouted in order to get their class was spread out across the Academy training grounds separated for individual taijutsu training. She stopped and turned to see what the stupid teacher wanted. He had three kids with him, kids she'd never seen before. They looked older than the kids in her class, though. One had red hair like her! She grinned and moved closer.

**YAHIKO**

Yahiko had never been amongst this many kids in his life. It was a little overwhelming. His life had mostly consisted of scrounging and Not Dying. Not Dying took a lot of cunning and effort. So playing was short on the list, as was education and learning-well, at least learning about stuff not related to Not Dying was. A lot of little eyes stared at them from across a kunai-littered playground. Well, ninja playground. The sensei introducing them was nice though. Konan seemed to be getting less gloomy by the second which was good. Nagato, kami knows what went on in his head. I mean, ever since they found him and Chiba, he seemed sad. He told them that some Mist shinobi killed his parents-but that he apparently killed them in return. Yahiko thought that maybe he could get used to it here, if only for Konan and Nagato's sake. I mean, Nagato started smiling again. That alone was enough to celebrate about. He could get used to it here. Maybe, just maybe...their suffering was at an end.

He grinned as the kids started asking them questions.

**NAGATO UZUMAKI**

Nagato couldn't be sure, but he thought that maybe the red-haired girl was familiar. The one by the training post. This was all so new to him! The Hokage of this village taught Jiraiya-sensei and he said that Nagato was an Uzumaki, he didn't know how they knew, but after they were cleared by Tsunade-dono at the hospital, she said that there was a couple other Uzumaki's in residence in Konoha...she explained things a little to him, that he had family.

Family.

He would do anything to meet them...I mean, Konan and Yahiko were great. His best friends definitely, but not family. Family was important. He had to meet her. But here he was and there she was and he didn't know what to say.

**KONAN**

Konan saw the indecision on Nagato's face. Sp, she made the decision for him. She marched over to the round-faced red-haired girl and tapped her on the shoulder. She introduced herself as the girl turned around.

"Hi, I'm Konan! We're new here. This here is Nagato and the orange lummox over there is Yahiko. Who're you?"

**KUSHINA**

Kushina blinked, the girl had blue hair. Blue hair. They were going to be best friends. She knew it. "'ttebayo! you have blue hair! That's so cool 'cause mines red and stuff! We're going to be best friends!" She knew it like she knew she was going to be Hokage! She smiled and launched a thousand questions at Konan. Konan smiled and responded to each and every one, Nagato quickly forgotten.

**NAGATO UZUMAKI**

Nagato knew this was probably a good thing, Konan bonding with his cousin, but I mean...couldn't she have done it later? He marched himself over to where the two girls were talking and smiling. He coughed. They turned to him, Konan smiled again-her mouth had to her from doing that, it was weird to see her smiling so much. The three of them had precious little to smile about before...before Konoha.

The blue-haired girl smacked herself in the forehead and wrenched Nagato forward, "Kushina, this is Nagato, one of my two best friends. Nagato, this is Kushina Uzumaki-she's got red hair, just like you!" The blinding smile on her face was disconcerting. Nagato's eyebrow twitched. He turned back from Konan to the person he now knew was his cousin, Kushina.

Family.

"I'm Nagato...Nagato Uzumaki. I think I'm your cousin."

**KUSHINA UZUMAKI**

Kushina smiled as she threw herself at Nagato. It looks like she didn't need as much help with family as she thought!

_**Four Years After the End of the War: Border between Takigakure and Konohagakure**_

**HIRUZEN SARUTOBI**

This particular snake had slithered far enough, Hiruzen thought. His legs churned as he ran, leaping from branch to branch effortlessly.

He knew this now. Monstrous experiments they uncovered too late to stop indicated at least that much. Sarutobi knew this was the pinnacle moment for him; he needed to kill his heart. He needed to cloak himself in dispassion. He knew his ANBU would be after him soon, if they hadn't already been alerted to his escape.

Hehe, I still got it! Well, this time it wasn't because of towering stacks of paperwork. Heh, they'd be so proud!

This was his fault. His mistake to fix. He knew that now.

He'd loved Orochimaru as his own son, just like he loved his other two knuckle-headed students; Jiraiya-kun and Tsunade-hime. He had taught them as he had been taught. And loved them like he had been loved. But love had blinded him to the truth about his erstwhile, ever-darkening student.

It was an infection that couldn't be allowed to fester, as his little Tsunade-hime would say.

Shimura, insufferable warmonger and perpetual curmudgeon and prude that he was, would no doubt be proud. Maybe for the first time ever. Tree's flashed by as the God of Shinobi flew towards his destination-and death, of one kind or another. The white silhouette of his student flashed and bobbed ahead, Kusanagi flashing to cut obstacles from his path and pushing for speed ahead of him.

Orochimaru knew his master was coming for him.

This frantic pace ensured that Orochimaru knew this was the last meeting the two of them would ever have. He couldn't lie awake one more night wondering about the horrors he was indirectly responsible for. No one else would die because of a monster he created. No one.

With Enma, the Monkey King, in staff form, Hiruzen made a half-seal in his other and a massive pinwheel of fire erupted outward blazing a path towards the white form of his student ahead.

His student flipped and they locked eyes as Orochimaru narrowly avoided-barely-being cooked to death.

There would be no escape from this, Orochimaru had to die. One way or another.

_**Eight Years After the End of the War: Konoha, Remembrance Stone**_

**OBITO UCHIHA**

The Events at Kannabi Bridge were more important than anybody in the Elemental Nations ever knew. The fact that the 'death' of Obito Uchiha didn't happen had major consequences-the course of Ninja history altered far beyond what anyone could have ever predicted. Nobody, least of all those in power, would ever know how this would fall out.

Prophecies, uttered by beings of power in various dimensions across the realm, meant absolutely nothing. Dimensionally-speaking, the Events on Kannabi Bridge (with a capital E) merely represented the straw that broke the camel's back. The Sage, millenium ago, had decreed there would always be a balancing force in the Elemental Countries. The choice would always be available to humanity; the power to choose their own fate. It was no coincidence that this small act by the most powerful being on the planet would have such far-reaching consequences. And it was no surprise that the Rinnegan would manifest twice more after he passed away. The cycle would be broken-but by which side? The Paragon, championing peace-or the Renegade, advocating destruction and subjugation? What form would it take? What was _really_ going on behind the scenes?

Those previously mentioned beings of power, summoned and otherwise, waited on baited breath to see how events would unfold, where the lynchpins would rest.

One down...one to go.

But Obito didn't know any of this.

For him, that event with the Iwa-nin on the Bridge shattered his innocence, his life, his mind. His happiness. Kakashi had died. He died vainly trying to be the friend Obito had wanted all along; the kind that for Kakashi, was too much like his father. Never leave a comrade behind right? For him Rin, his one true love, had _died. _Died trying to save Kakashi from his chosen course of action. The selfish bastard.

His anger still boiled at Rin...she had chosen Kakashi-again-and for the last time. Everything that happened changed him-even beyond the awakening of his Mangekyo Sharingan and his meteoric rise in both rank and power, becoming the S-class Ghost of Konoha...very close to a flee-on-sight order like his sensei-he wasn't the same Obito anymore. No happy-go-lucky, goggles wearing moron. Oh no, he was Obito Uchiha, prodigy.

All of that meant jack to the Uchiha pariah. The jonin of Konoha was hated, feared, and looked up to all at the same time by his clan. Everyone, at least, acknowledged he wasn't the same fuck-up he was when he was younger. There were simply no excuses anymore. No veil of laziness, of sloth, of victimhood.

All of this, these ideals, he attempted to pass on to Itachi Uchiha-who he already knew would become very powerful and act as a balancing force in the Clan. Kami knew they needed it. Dumb baka's didn't know how good they had it in Konoha with Minato-sensei as Hokage and Shimura mysteriously found dead.

He knew he wasn't the only shinobi who secretly celebrated, knocking back a pint or five of saki in honor of the downed warhawk. A lot of people would rest easier knowing he was in his grave-that definitely included Obito.

But about Itachi, Obito was very afraid that it wouldn't matter much how much prestige he gained Konoha when a damn civil war was brewing right under their noses...and he was very sure that Itachi was caught up in it. But that was a problem for another day.

Today was about him, the awesome-fabulous news he received today. Obito knew exactly what kept him in Konoha, what brought a smile to his face and brought him back to the light when things went dim and dark-the bundles of joy and life his sensei and Kushina-hime were bringing into the world. Little Izuna and now...Naruto.

It was very simple. Obito or 'Tobi' to Izuna, loved playing Ninja with his sensei's kid. It brought him back to when Rin, Kakashi, and him began hanging out as part of Team Minato. It was the best time of his life. Beatings, insults, jutsu gone wrong...it was the best. He knew then that he had precious people. People who cared about him. Now, with them gone, life seemed so bleak. But Naruto and Izuna made life worth living again. He'd be the best damn Godfather ever!

Obito smiled as he exited the Hokage Tower and took to the rooftops in a chakra-powered leap, adjusting his headband and his goggles as he ran towards his apartment near the Nara compound. He vowed, right here and right now, that he'd never let anything happen to the two of them. Ever. He'd protect his precious people if it was the last thing he did!

_**Ten Years After the End of the War: Konoha Memorial Hospital**_

**KUSHINA NAMIKAZE**

Kushina Uzumaki, Red Hot-blooded Habanero and second jinchuuriki of the Nine-tailed Demon Fox let out a sound very like a little girl faced with a new, cute, fluffy animal. The sound echoed and disturbed the patients resting in the maternity ward. Tsunade let out a sigh as she nodded.

"Yes, I'm positive Kushina. It isn't, 'freakin' cancer' as you put it. Its a_ baby_. Though it's _pretty much the same thing_." The last bit was waspishly whispered under her breath.

Dan had been getting insistent lately.

She liked the _trying_ part of it all, but you know, she just...wasn't sure she'd make a great mother. Kushina got in her face, red hair obscuring her vision of the visiting station where her vacant gaze rested, and it pulled her back to the present. "Dattebayo, Minato will be so happy! We'd been trying to have another one...Izuna is too cute and I just wanted more of those little Minato-faced munchkins in the house. Besides Izuna needs a brother!"

The smile on Kushina's face threatened to bisect her entire face. "Nagato will be happy too-he already dotes on Izuna like a happy uncle. Hard to believe the Great Nagato, S-class terror, laughs and squeals and tickles baby Izuna's toes like any other silly idiot-it's great blackmail!"

Tsunade had a hard time reconciling the terrifying shinobi-version of Nagato with the fresh-faced little squirt they rescued on the battlefields of Ame so long ago. Jiraiya, her, and….him. She shook her head. It was done with and they needed to move on. Kushina sensed the somber shift in mood because she took a new direction.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Tsunade! Uh. Could you maybe keep this a secret till I tell Minato?" The Big Purple Eyes no Jutsu went off without a hitch and Tsunade fell instantly. "Of course. Of course. Don't wait long okay? I have a big mouth. I don't know how long I can hold it in for." Tsunade smiled and winked. Kushina laughed and jumped off the examination table. She pulled her shirt down and shrugged on her flak jacket, adjusting her hair. "I'm gonna go tell Mr. girly-ass Hokage right now!"

The head of the Uzumaki clan in Konoha took to the rooftops as soon as she exited the hospital. It took her less than five minutes to make her way to the Hokage tower in the center of the village. She stopped in front of a dango stand in the middle of the crowded thoroughfare and looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun as she sought her object. She smiled and leapt straight upwards, casually climbing to the very top of the tower and bust in through the window. Koharu almost had a heart attack as the wife of the Hokage busted into the room in the middle of their strategy session. Nara Shikaku slumped in his chair muttering, no doubt about troublesome things, and the Ghost of Konoha, Obito Uchiha, slouched against the far bookshelf. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha and S-Class shinobi with a universal flee-on-sight order had ramen dripping all over the front of his flak jacket and looked gobsmacked.

The foxy, smiling Kushina announced glowing, "Minato! I'm pregnant again-and its a boy!"

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

Back at the Namikaze clan compound, Izuna Namikaze was practicing diligently with his chakra chains. It wasn't something he was great at. Those who watched him thought he was so skilled and dedicated...'deep' as the fangirls called it, complicated.

'Why does the boy train so hard? He's a genius!' Giggle, giggle.

Izuna wasn't complicated _or _deep.

He was eight years old and he knew he was skilled. He knew what a prodigy was, and that everyone was saying that was what he was, but really all he knew was that things came very easily to him. So easy, in fact, that it made it hard to care about such accomplishments. His mother and father knew he excelled, knew and praised him for working so hard, and that made him want to try harder. But the simple fact was that he didn't need to try to achieve the things he wanted-even at two. His mother had come to talk to him earlier that day, saying that a few very important things were happening and that he had a very important role to play. A job.

A job that only he could do. She smiled when she said it, her hair falling around her shoulders close enough that he could play with it like he loved to do as a kid. She took his face in her hands and told him something that changed his life...well two somethings.

He was going to be the next jailor for moms burden. And he was going to have a brother.

Now both of these things are connected, he knew. He didn't feel adrift anymore, wondering what the point of his skill was, he knew now-he immediately put the two together in his mind. Mom told him that his brother would be coming very soon and that he'd need to be the best big brother he could be-protect his brother, train his brother, make him strong. Look out for little Naruto like mom and dad look out for him.

The fact of the matter was that as the next jailor for the big fox in his mom's belly, he'd be responsible for keeping the fox locked up...if it escaped, it'd hurt the people he loved. His mom. His dad.

His brother.

Izuna needed to be the best shinobi he could so he could protect everyone. So he would. His mom told him that only the most courageous shinobi are chosen to house the Nine-tailed Fox.

He wouldn't let them down.

_**Ten Years After the End of the War: Konohagakure; Valley of the End**_

**MADARA UCHIHA**

Madara Uchiha was not a man prone to rash actions.

He continued to kneel on the rough hewn ground as he considered this newest...development. Water dripped off a statue behind him and echoed. He coughed wetly. The damp air in the cave only worsened his condition, he knew. Though, it had been fifty years since his clash with that damn Senju and he finally acknowledged he was fading…fading, but not gone.

Not yet.

His dream-the end of the cycle of hatred-would happen. It would. The ninja of today knew nothing, fought like children over territory that meant nothing. Fought like honorless rabble and not as trained ninja! Ninja who operated in the darkness, who were the bogeyman to the civilian population...terrifying, powerful, and not _sheep_. If there was one thing Madara had learned in his isolation was that all those battles he fought were pointless-life was too precious to waste fighting. Death was meaningless when snuffed out, so young, so innocent. These young and innocent lives, those like his brothers, were led to their deaths by the will of those greater than themselves. Nobody had a _choice_.

Locked in a cycle, unable to see the wheel they were spinning inside. Led by those with more knowledge, more power, more wisdom, the cycle created more violence and hatred...which in turn fueled the fire. Hashirama knew this, he KNEW this. So, why had he elected to fight him on this point so many damn times? He never understood. Foolish Senju.

He knew what the problem was...Hashirama himself knew what the problem was...it was the power of choice! Free will. The power of one individual to enforce their will over another. The power to choose to freely throw your life away for a cause that didn't care about you.

Attached to the Demonic Statue though he was, and kept alive artificially as well, he knew he couldn't continue like this. He knew that well. His long dark hair trailed across the cloth covering his chest as he reached his hands out to brush the scroll that had been delivered to him by some means he was still puzzling over. It was a rarity for him to puzzle for long.

All his knowledge, his power, his skill...it wouldn't do any good whatsoever if he couldn't find a worthy successor in which to pass the torch.

Hmm, what a fitting metaphor.

Fire burned, devoured, offered no quarter and expected none. But fire also healed. He needed to find someone to help him burn out the infection in their world, burn away everyones free will like dry grass on the high plain. A fire was needed to cleanse the world. The ancient, armored Uchiha knew exactly what fire would do the trick. He glanced back at the scroll, reading the contents.

Madara Uchiha grew up listening the stories of the Sage of Six Paths, father of ninjutsu, father of the Bijuu-so powerful he could create things out of nothingness. So powerful. Powerful enough to enforce his will and dominate the whole world. The Sage possessed the legendary Samsara eye, or the Rinnegan as his parents explained to him. He remembered smiling and laughing and playing Sage with his older brother and the other Uchiha clan kids...he shook his head. Memories of long ago. Weakness. He chided himself-him, a warrior of the Uchiha clan getting senile. Imagine that! He laughed, the echo bouncing crazily in the jagged cave.

He continued to brood.

One thing he knew for sure, the only thing really, was that peace-real peace-could only be achieved through complete domination of every person and thing on the planet...he knew that now.

One will.

The scroll was the last piece of the puzzle. He sighed again and straightened out of sazen position. Madara Uchiha, wielder of the Rinnegan and chosen Bringer of Peace and Harmony to the world, would see it through to the end. He would end the cycle for good.

Rocks tumbled near the entrance and Madara didn't move. The shaggy-haired warrior presumed the masked messenger that put this interesting, very interesting, scroll into his once-strong hands was his visitor. Madara felt the chakra signature, oily, oddly doubled up on itself. Traitorous.

Ah, Root.

"What does Danzo Shimura's little Root want from an old man like me?" Madara cocked his head to the left, hair dangling like the teeth of some great beast. His teeth shone white in the light from the afternoon sun just managing to encroach on the cave entrance as his lips curved upwards. "Come now Mr. Yakushi...what can I do for you?" The newcomer, draped in a chunin flak-jacket and wearing a headband of Konoha, adjusted his glasses, light glinting strangely off of them, and smiled, seemingly not in the least disturbed to meeting a dead person.

"Madara Uchiha...it is an honor, sir. However, I don't think this is about what you can do for me… but more, what Root can do for you, wouldn't you agree?"

_**Ten Years and Nine Months After the End of the War: Konohagakure, Namikaze Compound**_

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

It had been close on nine months since Izuna had been told of his newest mission in life; to guard and protect the biggest fox in the history of the Elemental Nations. But when he finally met the Kyuubi, or Kurama as he came to found out, the guy wasn't half bad.

Oh, he was quite incensed about being imprisoned an d such, but overall, he was quite a good conversationalist-when he felt like contributing. Of which Izuna greatly appreciated this fact about his new partner, at least in light of the circumstances. Izuna was dedicated to the defense of the life and limb of those precious to him. Mostly Naruto and his parents-but he had a host of other people who mattered too. But it was very important to him that he excel. He had a promise to uphold.

So when the time for the ceremony came around, he cleaned his room, finished practicing his shape manipulation, and followed his father out to the back of the clan compound-luckily it was close to the Hyuuga and the Sarutobi's. Two clans well versed in the massive chakra sealing barriers that now graced his normally beautiful zen garden backyard. He pictured steel running through his three-year old veins. Mom looked beautiful but tired, bags under her normally unwrinkled skin. The pregnancy was close at hand so he knew she had to be straining with two enormous burdens.

He was glad he'd be taking one away from her after today.

His father smiled, his white cloak with flames bordering the edges flapping in the gentle autumn breeze. The hand on his back felt warm as they led him over to an altar he could have sworn he'd never seen before in his life. "How are you feeling son? You know you can back out of this whenever you want. Your mom and I talked about this, and we wanted this to truly be something you take on yourself." The concern on Dad's face was truly touching-but he was a big boy. Old enough to understand and acknowledge what he wanted. Izuna's parents watched his tiny face go hard with a fierceness not out of place on a mama tiger defending her cub. Kushina thought it adorable-secretly Minato agreed, but he didn't want to spoil it by laughing and pinching his cheeks. "I know I'm only three mother, father, but I want to help protect Konoha! I want to protect you and otouto-and well, everybody!"

The Namikaze parents looked at each other and Kushina nodded. She was almost four when she received Kurama and Izuna was far stronger than she had ever been at his age. More like their father; face, figure, attitude-everything. He could make this decision himself.

"Okay then Izuna-chan, let's get on with it shall we?" Minato directed Izuna to take his shirt off and lay on the altar. Kushina lay next to her son. As she sat, chains erupted from her skin and bound them together. She smiled at him as he lay there, arm pressed against hers. Minato nodded to Sarutobi and Jiraiya who attended them on the side, quiet during the family moment. Jiraiya made dumb faces at Izuna as he came closer, Izuna tried not to but he cracked a grin anyway. Sarutobi smiled at the byplay and tapped his pipe out as he spoke quietly to Minato, "Eight Trigrams Sealing Method correct? That's what we worked out from what I remember of Mito and Hashirama's plan for Kushina." Minato nodded, "Yes Sarutobi-sensei, I'm just worried that Kushina...and the labor. Well, Tsunade said it should be fine, but how many times has anybody ever transferred the greatest of the bijuu from host to host during pregnancy?" Sarutobi looked thoughtful, placing his pipe back in his mouth, smoke rising from a sealless fire-release. Minato rolled his eyes at the show-off. "Honestly, the Uzumaki genes, chakra chains, powerful life force, skill with sealing…Izuna is perfect. I would be very, very surprised my boy, with any complications whatsoever." He pointed his pipe towards ANBU ringing the building, visible through the haze of the barrier. "This is the most well-fortified place in the entire Elemental Nations right now, so I wouldn't worry so much." Minato nodded and stepped forward to start the ritual.

Izuna shivered as the ritual started and progressed. He heard his fathers voice pick up and his mom grit her teeth. Then, a malevolence fell over the clearing; a chakra, even at his age, he could tell was full of anger and hatred for everything. It felt like every mean kid who picked on him was yelling insults in his face over and over again. Like mom and dad telling you they didn't love you, like his future brother hating him. His mom grabbed his hand and squeezed. his trembling hands stilled and he remembered his part. The swirling red vortex coming out of his mother had chains around it-his moms powerful chains crisscrossing the powerful solid chakra. He added his six chains to the mix, pulling it towards his stomach.

It was over and done with before he even knew it. He heard his father's voice finish, "Eight Trigrams Sealing Technique!"

Blackness covered Izuna and before he knew it, he was in a massive dark library that opened, with no transition, into a beautiful valley. A red glow came from deep in the forest abutting the mountains in the distance. White paper stuck to a rock next to a path leading into the forest, kanji scrawled across it. Two massive eyes opened and narrowed at the intruder and raised itself up above the trees. Up and up and up…

Izuna woke up.

_**Ten Years, Nine Months, and some Change After the End of the War: Konohagakure Memorial Hospital, Room 3C**_

**UNKNOWN**

Rain like Konoha had never experienced before pounded the city when Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was born. He was a healthy baby boy born on October 10th at Konoha Memorial Hospital five pounds, nine ounces. Red was the color of the day; between the water-logged blossoms all over the city and the crazy amount of blood-colored hair atop his crown. A definite contrast to his older brother Izuna's bright yellow messy mop-identical to the Hokage's. Everyone said hair the color of blood symbolized the burning Will of Fire definitely, most assuredly, already absolutely present in the Hokage's youngest son. The rain couldn't dampen such a momentous occasion either-the Hokage's second son was born healthy and whole...well mostly.

It was also said that the Hokage gave a considerable sum of money to Obito Uchiha in the form of winnings from what was presumably a bet regarding hair color.

Rain slashed at the windows of Konoha Memorial as Kushina smiled her trademark foxy-grin, happy but exhausted-much the same as her doctor, one Tsunade Senju. The happy cousins, Karin Uzumaki and Nagato Uzumaki, along with family friends Yahiko, Konan, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and many others came through and congratulated the glowing, happy husband and wife. Even Itachi, new clan head of the Uchiha clan, stopped by on his way to see his sister, Kira. Everyone agree it was very nice of him. Everyone agreed even more though, on the opinion of all involved that the deep purple eyes with concentric rings gazing intelligently out of little Naruto's face meant something very, very important.

Arguably the biggest shock was that nobody had ever seen Nagato quite that...cuddly with anyone, he cooed over Naruto. Attention came back to Naruto as he gurgled and burbled, making cute sounds that had everyone cooing, even his big brother. Of course, nobody paid much attention to anything else after that because that is when, as Yahiko always says, shit got weird.

Naruto waved his hands around as babies do and…

...from nothingness came multicolored soap bubbles which flew around, shifting to his whim.

_**Fourteen Years After the End of the War: Konohagakure, Streets near the Uchiha Clan Compound**_

**ITACHI UCHIHA**

Itachi Uchiha ran like his life was at stake.

And in some ways, it was.

The youngest Jonin in Uchiha history flew over the rooftops in a chakra-powered hurricane sprint towards the Uchiha clan compound. Tonight was the night. He breathed in and out, steadying himself; legs churning, dark cloak flapping. His father had made no effort to disguise his less than amiable coup d'etat attempts. The Fourth had dispatched him and the ANBU to suppress the attempt (as bloodlessly as possible he promised)-but he hoped he wasn't too late. It would be far from bloodless with the Uchiha involved.

He poured on the speed. Rooftops flashing by as his vision went a little hazy with the blueness of his chakra.

As he passed the halfway mark he mulled over the facts he had heard from the Hokage; his father had pushed his timetable up considerably-almost a year they said. Itachi's mind raced. He knew that Nagato, Obito, Konan, and Yahiko were all out of the picture on missions… many of their strongest Jonins were off dealing with Kumo's saber rattling. Dan and Nawaki were handling a diplomatic mission to Mist, the Mizukage Yagura was not an easy man to engage with, so that left the sannin. They were gone; Jiraiya was with Minato, Nagato, and the Third on a classified mission, and Tsunade on extended training exercises with the Hospital Iryu-nin Corp. And, of course, Orochimaru was dead as a traitor and a monster.

Who was there to stop Fugaku? No doubt the Hokage could be there in a flash, but other than him, who did that leave able to match Fugaku?

Itachi.

It was better this way, fitting. Shusui was drifting, consumed by his ninjutsu. His mother, Makoto, was pregnant with his soon-to-be sister...a sister that would be born in a world divided. His mother would never raise a hand against her husband. She never had before.

Itachi couldn't let this be the legacy of the Uchiha. Continuous hatred. No, he would defeat his father, take the reins of the clan, and return them to their former glory. Just like he eliminated the meddling of Danzo Shimura, he would eliminate his father and thereby make Konoha whole again. The eldest son of the clan head smiled and his Mangekyo Sharingan spun in the darkness.

He had promised.

_**Eight Years After Naruto's Birth: Namikaze Clan Compound**_

**KUSHINA UZUMAKI**

Kushina and her husband very, very happy-and why not?

Konoha was more prosperous than ever-with ever increasing contracts to the numerous incredible shinobi that resided within her walls, she fulfilled more and more expensive contracts than ever before. Prestige and money flowed right into the coffers of the government and, in turn, to Minato as the Hokage. The Merchant Guilds and the civilian representatives on the Council were happy-incredibly so. New clients emerged and for vastly different requests than ever before; earth users were contracted for construction, water users were contracted for irrigation ensuring a population explosion unseen since the Second Shinobi War. Contracts streamed in and Konoha grew fat on riches.

With the highest population of S-class ninja in the entirety of the Elemental Countries and thus the most powerful shinobi force...envy grew. Jealousy took root in many a leader, especially of the smaller countries, but Kushina knew none of this and suspected just as much.

All she knew was that her boys-Izuna, Naruto, and Minato-made her life worth living. Everyone in Konohagakure, that she knew at least, was happier than she could ever remember. Simply more evidence that power, used the right way, made life better for everyone. Something she tried to instill in her boys as much as she could.

As she bustled around the sprawling Uzumaki-Namikaze Manor towards the central training grounds for her normal training routine, she couldn't help but smile. Why, just today Naruto had turned five and was given his first shinobi tool kit; sealing kit, kunai, senbon, etc.

The purple in his eyes shined when he smiled and made her heart skip. She had to admit though...Naruto was different though. The little scholar had said that he saw things no one else did. Nagato assured her it was just the rinnegan, but...it was more than that. He was quiet, _not like her at all_, he was shy and skittish, he was bookish-always reading by lamplight. Kushina had to try some sneaky fuuinjutsu to make sure no light could shine in his bedroom or he'd be up at all hours. I mean, they weren't even _adventure_ novels; theoretical texts on space and time? Physics? What kind of kid _liked_ that kind of crap?

She snorted. Luckily she had other shinobi-moms to call on, Makoto Uchiha was still her best friend. But it sounded to Kushina like she had her own hands full. Itachi was a prodigy not unlike her Izuna and Naruto sounded pretty much the exact opposite of Kira, Itachi's sister. Her smile fell. Then again, the big difference now was that Makoto didn't have a husband to share the burden of raising two children. Her heart went out to her friend. It couldn't be easy to handle things now that-

Her head swiveled around the compound taking in the zen garden and the rest of the patio directly in front of her. Something ticked off her danger sense. The wooden slats ringed the center of the open compound and framed the massive rocks and gentle white sand that filled the garden, it fairly radiated peace and tranquility. A single, lonely Sakura tree squatted over the whole area. Blossoms, as usual, sat scattered all around. Everything was normal, so why did she feel like she was being watched?

For shinobi, that knee-jerk sensation of being watched wasn't the same thing as a civilians hair standing on end-it was often the product of their chakra interacting with their surroundings giving them a bit of almost precognition in regards to threats. Many shinobi were alive today because of that very advantage.

Which is why she was so concerned. That nagging sensation was screaming at her. She spun and jerked her body sideways.

It was the only reason she was still alive.

Flesh parted as a needle-like kunai slid through her spine at an angle, directly behind her heart. That jerk prevented the tip from penetrating her heart and killing her instantaneously. She gasped and twisted away from the second attack. The attacker's hand blurred towards her heart. Kushina's hand snaked out, a length of chain erupting from her right shoulder, and deflected the kunai's unerring strike-enough to leave a heavy furrow gouged in her side where rib clearly showed through. She tried to move but couldn't, her legs weren't responding properly. All she could do was fly around like a baka.

And die.

Damnit, she wouldn't go this way to some asshole no-name assassin!

She deflected the next deft attack, channeled chakra into a pinpoint strike-not unlike Tsunade's technique but much more crude-and slammed her geta sandals into the would-be assassin's bandage-wrapped knee.

Crack!

The assassin didn't even make a sound as his kneecap splinted and reversed inwards, no normal ninja could ever ignore such a wound. Sweat broke out on her forehead. Kushina scrambled backwards on on both hands, splinters digging into her palms from the wooden slats. She thought hard and fast-Minato's sigil was nearby, under all the benches (he was fucking paranoid, but turns out he was goddamn right) so all she needed to do was activate it and he'd come running. She smirked and moved. She channeled enough chakra for the equivalent of one-tail of Kurama's chakra (not that she had that to fall back on anymore). An explosion of long silvery chains crisscrossed her and leapt at the enemy, seeking blood. She tried to buy herself some time as she scooted even further, dragging her unresponsive legs. Her heart stopped as she heard her youngest son calling her name as he opened the door onto the veranda. He wasn't supposed to be here! The attacker disappeared into the ground and her chains retracted. A wave of weakness hit her and she lost feeling in her chest.

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

Naruto knew he was strange-even among ninja. He just couldn't help it!

Nobody understood, except Nagato, what he was seeing. Ever since he was a little kid he'd been able to see the wisps. Nobody else was able to see the wisps. Always swirling around peoples heads and bodies in different colors, he'd never been able to understand what it all meant. What was he seeing? Blues, reds, greens, every color he could name he'd seen floating around the various civilians and things got way weirder when he saw shinobi using techniques.

It was beautiful though, the way the wisps started surging and dancing inside the chakra. He couldn't help that he got distracted by the lights floating around him and the shapes! So many shapes. His dad's Rasengan technique was gorgeous; swirling neutral soft blue colors in a massive swirling sphere. He could see the individual wisps moving around people; he thought maybe some of them indicated emotions and ideas. But others? Others were inside techniques. He was fascinated! He maneuvered skillfully through the front room of his the Namikaze side of the compound, dodging futons and the dinner table while his eyes were glued to a text about gravitational forces. I mean, the idea that a field of energy was responsible for lashing us to the ground and making being not-float was...brilliant! As he made his way through, he snagged an apple from the bowl on the table and used his butt to open the door out into the courtyard. He swiveled and used his bony seven year old butt to close the door again-his mom hated it when he did this, moving on autopilot thing. Unfortunately he had to look up as he had reached the stairs down on to the sand.

Naruto's eyes flicked up, purple eyes flashing, and he stopped short. Sound intruded on his musings.

There was blood on the ground and someone was screaming at him-his mom!-to run. He stopped eating his apple but didn't have time to scream before the attacker was on him. Pale yellow wisps rose from the ground and sheathed the figure as he...he...He rose from the ground! Naruto scrambled backwards, throwing his book at the ninja...thing?

He got a good look at the assailant. Black cloak, red clouds, massive plant-thingy gripping a face with two colors...like the prayer stones at the Fire Temple…

The analytical part of his mind, a large part, thought it funny how time slowed when he was about to die. Naruto saw everything. There were no red wisps, just pale yellow and blue...he thought maybe that meant this man...thing was just on a mission. No anger. No hatred-colored wisps. His eye dropped to the approaching weapon. A regular kunai-a kunai not unlike the one he had been so excited to get when he became a ninja-came closer and closer to his left eye. He thought about a lot of things; his mommy bleeding on the ground, he thought about gravity (stupid!), why was no one there to protect him?, he thought about fear, the tightness in his small chest, and how he knew if Izuna was here he'd make it better...or maybe he'd be able to defeat the attack. Sadness. Maybe if he'd tried harder to do things other than lounge around and read, he'd have been able to save his mommy and himself.

The perfect thrust of a master assassin pushed slowly towards his eye and his head and his death.

And there was nothing he could do… right? He pictured his brother, always telling him he'd never let anything happen to him, his family-so powerful-jiji, a kage! His dad...people fled when they saw him… and...and…

None of them could save him and he couldn't save himself.

Naruto knew now, as imminent death stripped away his childish notions of heroics, of books and other worlds, and happy endings and happiness-he saw that he was just pretending to be a ninja...he was nothing like his brother or the other ninja-he was weak. Weak and a fool, a fool to think he could ever be like them. He couldn't even save himself. Fear consumed him and he screamed.

Time sped up and the kunai rammed into his eye. The metal scraped the bone of his eye socket on both sides as it went digging. The flesh of the eyeball pulped and milky fluid spilled down his face.

He screamed louder. His rinnegan flashed once. Everything went black for him and he could hear himself breathing as he fell backwards. There was almost nothing left of him as the blackness of oblivion ate at the edges of his consciousness.

Blood spread out in a fan behind his head as he felt himself dying.

**KUSHINA UZUMAKI**

Kushina swam back into consciousness. She coughed on the blood filling her lungs. It covered her, Bloody Habanero indeed. Her bloody, gloved questing hand sought frantically under the bench nearest her. She couldn't believe ANBU hadn't heard the disturbance by now. Her baby boy was going to die! Her breaths came fast and desperate.

Hulking, the plant-thing emerged from the ground right in front of Naruto and drew a kunai. She looked away from the attacker advancing on her baby boy. Her eyes grew heavy, drowsy again from blood loss. She forced them open, kept her eyes-drowsy as they were-aimed towards the bench and towards safety.

Ah!

With her blood already all over her, she finally just channeled chakra as she activated the raised elements of the Hiraishin marker. She heard a cry of mortal agony, her baby boy-her precious baby-and the world rang with sound.

Then nothing.

_**Aftermath of the Attack on Kushina and Naruto**_

**MINATO NAMIKAZE, FOURTH HOKAGE OF KONOHAGAKURE**

The Uzumaki-Namikaze Clan compound swarmed with ninja. Medical staff hauled away the corpses of the ANBU detailed to guard Kushina as the fire brigade put out tiny fires all over the place, centered around the garden. Large fists of crude earth stood poised out from where Naruto had lain bleeding. Water had frozen in spears of ice, punching otward in the same way as the earth. Fire had blackened the ground all around. Wind had created a bubble around Naruto that they had to pierce before they could grab him.

It was as if a bomb hit.

The most baffling part was the crystalline spears arcing out of the ground in a defensive ring. The hell was that? He shook his head and eyed the wreckage.

Minato felt his heart breaking a little more as he stared at the building that represented everything he ever wanted in his life. Or at least, what was left of the building. As an orphan, Minato had longed for a family. He had done everything he could to find out his natural parents, but no matter how much he searched it was like-like he had come out of nowhere. With him becoming a ninja, he had found comrades...Raido, Genma, the rest of the gang. He loved them like he loved Jiraiya or Kushina, or Izuna...Minato ran his hands through his hair. With Jiraiya he had felt like he came home. The father he never had...and then...Kushina. Well. She hated him at first, but he won her over. She proved to be the most amazing woman he had ever met. Tough, smart, deadly...she was _hilarious_. So spunky. He loved that. The kindest, gentlest woman in the world. Well, unless you pissed her off-and, Minato frowned, not one to let anyone get away with hurting her baby.

He knew she had fought. She fought with everything she had, but it was obvious this ninja was a stealth expert and managed to kill a squad of ANBU with nothing but a kunai. He most certainly got the drop on all of them. There was no shame in that.

Anger suffused him as he thought about what happened to his youngest. Naruto...was gifted with a doujutsu he had never seen before, but Sarutobi was convinced it was the Sage of Six Path's doujutsu-the Rinnegan. He was inclined to agree, Nagato had it-but it wasn't the same really. Nagato was a six-trick pony...but nobody lived long enough to see all of his tricks.

Naruto could do things with this Rinnegan that nobody had ever seen. Creating things out of nothing? It wasn't normal. But then again, who the hell was normal in the Uzumaki or Namikaze family? Yahiko was a turd, no about it. Goofy, serious, crazy-in love with Konan and showed it with outrageous displays of romantic affection. I mean, he was the sole reason they'd had to have the birds and bees talk this early in their parenthood. Tch. Karin and her need to sniff things...and too good at being a sensor. Like Byakugan-type invasion of privacy. Nagato...well Nagato was a nerd. Not that there was anything wrong with that… it was just, well, Izuna had taken a little too much after Nagato and himself; studious to a fault, focused, he had already mastered two-tails worth of bijuu chakra with the help of his chakra chains and Kushina. Well, he'd be a force to reckon with one day.

And Naruto? Naruto was...Naruto. Totally unexpected that he would be so much like Nagato of all people; bookish and frail. The boy was afraid of his own shadow. Kushina coddled him, taught him shinobi arts that didn't require much physicality. He had no fire in him, no fight. Not that Minato could see, anyway. It was even worse now...now that...

His mind shied away from thoughts of his son. Minato just thanked kami Izuna was with Obito when the attack happened.

Nagato said Naruto had lashed out with what he could only describe as pure chakra, shaping into various elements as needed-they'd felt the expenditure of energy like a sun rising in the middle of Konoha. Needless to say there was almost nothing left of the garden and compound.

He mentally reoriented. Minato knew he was just ignoring the simmering volcano of anger waiting just below his facade of calm. The horror of seeing his baby boy with just one eye...and his Kushina. Crippled. The baby blue of his eyes misted and he blinked them away as he looked to see if anyone saw. Kushina had almost died. Tsunade thankfully restored some functionality, but her chakra paths in her legs were almost severed. She could walk, but barely. She was crippled as a ninja. The Fourth counted himself lucky however; mercifully, Kushina had been sheltered behind the rock and barely escaped the blast of elements that most certainly would have killed her as it apparently had killed the mystery ninja.

Right now, though, was not a time for vengeance or grief as the killer was dead and both Naruto and Kushina needed him-_his family needed him_, not as the Hokage, but as Dad.

Minato turned and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

_**One Month After THE INCIDENT: Konoha, Hokage's Office**_

**MINATO AND KUSHINA NAMIKAZE**

The square room that housed the most powerful man in all of Konoha held a lot of books. Sheafs of scrolls cluttered the corner desk and definitely contributed to the overall picture of a less than organized Hokage. Kami knows that Iruka, assistant to the Hokage, tried his very best-but nobody knew better than Kushina how stubborn Minato could be. Kushina adjusted her legs as best she could in the chair off to the side, facing the right hand side of Minato's massive desk. Her legs killed. Tsunade had mentioned that there would be numbness from time to time, but she hadn't mentioned how annoying it would be when her legs finally woke up-or how painful. It irritated her, yes, but she couldn't help but be grateful even to be alive. The reminder was always there when she took every painful step.

Her baby boy could've died right there and there was nothing she could have done.

Sure, she accepted that shit happened in life, but she would never accept the death of her little boy. He was special; so special and the recent trip Minato, Jiraiya, Nagato, and the Third made to the home of the Great Toad Sage proved that. But the Great Sage warned that there were two paths those with the Rinnegan could take; that of the Destroyer and that of the Savior. She felt she knew what path Naruto was on now. In fact, that was exactly what she was here to talk to her husband about. She was worried about Naruto.

Very worried.

Ever since that day, when he had lost an eye and almost died. Where she suspected he came face to face with fear of a kind he had never witnessed or felt before. Her little boy almost died. There was simply no defense against that monstrous assassin-sure, Izuna might have lasted longer, but- Kushina checked her thoughts. She was comparing them again. She knew Izuna was a prodigy. Everyone loved Izuna and he was so capable that they'd admitted him into the Academy a few years back. He was set to graduate soon too. They were so proud of him… but it only underscored how wrong the situation with Naruto really was.

Naruto barely talked, he ate little, he never smiled. On top of all of that, he disappeared up into his room for hours on end. Thin before the Incident, he was worse after. Tsunade had him on a strict regimen of diet and exercise; but Kushina didn't see it helping...or maybe he just wasn't following it properly. Kushina tried her best to get him to open up by teaching him more advanced fuuinjutsu but that seemed to make him only hungrier for more. It was a spiral that would not end well. She knew that.

With bags under his eyes and an eye patch covering the ragged hole where his left eye would've been, he cut a somewhat frightening figure; the kids in his grade picked on him. But he didn't do anything-that they knew of. Reports had been coming back that mysteriously, those kids that picked on Naruto ended up having accidents-nothing deadly of course. Tripping where there was nothing to trip them, accidents happening to them that embarrassed them in class, harmless pranks like that.

Kushina knew without a doubt that it was Naruto. Izuna tried to talk to his brother, but seemed to only make Naruto withdraw inside himself further. He was pulling away and Kushina just didn't know what to do.

Minato opening the door to his office pulled her away from her melancholy thoughts. She struggled to her feet and moved fast, crashing into Minato and burying her head in his chest, breathing in his clean scent. She needed him right now, needed him to make this okay.

"Kushina, are you okay? Did something happen with the kids?" Those eyes, blue as the sky, stared back at her and she felt again how lucky she was to land someone as amazing as Minato. Kind, funny, strong...everything she ever wanted. She blushed, and handsome too! She did a mental fist-punch into the air for womankind. Dattebayo! She refocused.

"You honestly can't tell me you aren't worried for Naruto? Izuna is crazy worried, everyone in the clan is worried about him." She sighed and thought a second, "He stares at things that nobody can see-" Minato interrupted waving his hand, "Nagato says he is seeing chakra. It would make sense that he sees things nobody else can… because nobody else can see chakra like that!" He frowned, stepped out of her embrace, and looked down.

"I don't like people saying that my son is crazy, that he's broken, that he's another Orochimaru-I mean, yes, the boy likes to read and he's grown a little...dark, but he's my son and he is a good boy. Kushina, you know this!"

She read it in his face, he was as scared as she was. At least we're in this together then. "Minato, I'm worried about him-that is all. I know that he's a good boy-he's my baby for cryin' out loud! But I think we need to do something, because if we don't...then that happy little bookworm we raised will be gone." She stared intently into those beautiful eyes she loved.

"Minato he was scared out of his mind, I saw that much when the Incident happened! He probably hates himself, and thinks this is somehow his fault...blah, blah, and a bunch of self-recrimination." She rolled her eyes.

Resting against the desk, she looked out the office window at nothing. "That's exactly how we'd feel and he's our son. We have to do something." Minato stared at her back, slim, strong-able to carry so much and not break. He admired her for a lot of things, one of which was her insight and wisdom-in spite of her blunt personality. She tended to speak truth even when people didn't want to hear it. He walked around the desk and scooped her up in his arms. She was right and he knew it. Minato needed to help his son in the only way he knew how. To let his son pick himself up. Naruto needed to save himself and the only way Minato could do that was to give him space, time, and the skills to do it.

Only time would tell.

_**One Month After the Attack: Fire Temple Monastery in the Land of Fire**_

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

The last month had been almost a haze. Naruto had been operating on autopilot for his three-week stint in the hospital with it's white rooms, white clothed staff, white floors, white flowers, white white _white_ everywhere.

He was sick of the color white. He'd take red, or purple, or blue any day of the week-_something_. All he kept thinking was that he should have died. His mom had lived thankfully, but he had no idea why he still walked this earth. A full squad of ANBU, the elite of the elite, had been all taken out with a single kunai strike each. The man-plant was a master of his trade and yet-and yet-Naruto and his mother both were still alive. Why?

The story he'd been given was that Naruto had done something unconsciously that left the house a complete wreck. He didn't remember at all what happened, just remembered feeling immense pain-beyond description-in his eye and lashing out like a wounded animal he'd once seen in the woods. Maybe that was it?

If it was Naruto who possessed such power, why had it never happened before? People kept telling him that he was special for some reason...yet his brother, the Jailor of the Nine-tailed Fox of all things, received pat and after pat on his head for being a once-in-a-lifetime genius. Yet Naruto hadn't even been able to defend himself in his first encounter-an encounter that almost claimed his life.

The red-haired boy knew he was being hard on himself; he was only eight, but damn it-his father was a prodigy and went to war at his age! Then there was his brother, uncle, and all of his cousins (pretty much) who were doing amazing things so much earlier than he was-and managed to stay alive doing them. I mean, Izuna managed to apprentice himself to an ex-Hokage! He needed to get stronger and he couldn't do that way out here in the middle of nowhere! Didn't his father understand that? Mom usually gave in but in this she was like iron. Unbending.

HE WAS FINE.

Naruto tried to keep the trembling in his hands and daily nightmares to himself, even going so far as to create a sound barrier with fuuinjutsu around his room. Disabled within seconds-but he was congratulated for being inventive at least.

So he took his small victory, there was precious little to celebrate anymore.

He was being sent away for some reason he couldn't fathom. It was bad enough that he couldn't see as well as he had before...the wisps were dominating what vision he did have left. Nagato said that eventually he'd be able to turn it on and off but he wasn't there yet. Not by a long shot. But to be sent away? On top of that, pain still lingered in the socket whenever he thought about the Incident. Fire erupted there and he had to stifle his tears and cries. His mom and dad noticed anyway, as much as Naruto tried to hide it. Izuna had made him a band he could pull down to cover his eye-it had a metal plate with their clan symbol on it. Everyone said it made him look dashing, and roguish; which, of course, was _true_. It made him feel a bit better. Aunt Tsunade said that the pain was all in his head and it would go away as he came to terms with what had happened.

Came to terms? He sneered to himself. He would never be okay with nearly dying, his mom nearly dying, and him not being able to do a _damn thing_. So he ignored that advice and concentrated on reading as much as he could to try to take his mind off his leaving Konoha for who knew how many years. But, the day came-as he hoped it would not-and here he was.

He didn't even know where they were going.

Nagato Uzumaki, his cousin and famous S-class shinobi of Konohagakure escorted him to his new destination, but wouldn't tell him where they were going-only that the Hokage had ordered it. The _Hokage_.

The day came. Packing his bags took no time at all. One of the only things he could honestly say he was far ahead of everyone was in sealing; he just...understood what combinations would create what effect. His mom didn't appreciate it when he'd had the novel idea to use himself as a sealing scroll. The arms were the first to get marked up, layers of the seals he knew, waiting to be activated. Some were just for fun, others were storage, yet others helped him speed up the regular techniques they all learned; the basic clone, the Replacement, and the Transformation techniques. If only he'd started doing this before...before…

Naruto wrenched himself out of the hole he had dug himself and looked at his cousin and his surroundings.

Three mountains framed a beautiful valley filled with what seemed the very epitome of nature. Massive tree as far across as his skeletally-thin four foot height. He was tall for his age-at least that's what his mother said, just like his dad. He'd had to smile at that. Sometimes he felt like there was very little in common with his parents-except they all loved ramen to death. Izuna, Kushina, Minato, and Naruto could demolish most of the inventory of Ichiraku Ramen in one sitting.

Speaking of his father, he decided that he would get an answer out of his cousin as to their destination even if it was the last thing he did. He opened his mouth and was promptly cut-off as they had apparently arrived to their destination.

The Fire Temple of the Land of Fire was renowned across the world as the headquarters of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. Legendary shinobi charged with the personal protection of the Fire Daimyo-the leader of the most powerful country on the continent. They were hand selected for their skill, bravery, and loyalty to the throne. It was an immense honor to be chosen-he remembered old man Sarutobi talking about his son being selected for their ranks. It was the talk of Konoha for quite a while.

Anger and outrage bubbled up pushing aside his attempts to control it-this was what was to become of him? Shunted off to become some hermit _monk?_ Isolated. Alone.

Forgotten.

He had wondered if his family resented him for failing to win the day against a shinobi of at least jonin-caliber...it had seemed ridiculous. But maybe there was some truth to it. Maybe they blamed him for not being able to save his mom? Furiously, he swiped away tears that had come unbidden to his eyes. _It's not my fault! _He was weak. A traitorous voice whispered to him, _but that is your fault isn't it? That you are weak? If only you were more like Izuna…_ Naruto noticed Nagato was stopped, watching him with eyes the same as his own. _You only have one eye_ idiot_. _

"Naruto."

The quiet intensity of his name spoken grabbed his attention and held it as if by jutsu. "Listen very carefully to me, for these will be the last words you hear from me for quite some time. Will you do this?" Naruto was familiar with the way Nagato spoke; as if each conversation was of vast cosmic importance...but he had never sounded quite like this. He turned and nodded without speaking. His cousin looked at the imposing bronzed steel doors, flanked by states of Tengu and Yamabushi. The words came soft and slow.

"Pain was all I knew as a child-I was an orphan. My parents were killed right in front of me by a group of missing-nin from the Land of Mist." Naruto's eyes grew wide. His cousin had watched? Maybe Naruto had been luckier than he thought…

"Pain brings us together, it unites us, it forces us to endure and can be a true force of good. But you have a choice to make...you and I more than anyone." His voice was hypnotic-he'd never heard his cousin speak like this...he heard pain in his voice as he spoke. "Naruto, those blessed with the Rinnegan are chosen by Kami to do great things-or terrible things. We can be another Sage of the Six Paths and bring peace to this hate and violence place called life, or we can be terrible forces of evil and destruction-wrecking what we should love, turning all that is good into pain and suffering. You have a choice to make, and I suspect fairly soon, where you must decide which path you will follow." Nagato broke off and strode to the massive doors and slammed his fist once, a pure ringing sound echoing in the peaceful silence.

"I know you have suffered. You believe you are weak. That you've failed those around you. That perhaps there is no hope for you? I say this is false. But in order to become the person you want to be-to make your family proud-you need to choose the path you believe in." The two of them heard a soothing chant from over the massive walls. It stopped as Nagato struck a second blow on the door.

Naruto thought, _can I be anything other than weak? I mean...look at me!_ His cousin's eyes showed him otherwise..he could be something great. Perhaps his parents sent him here to prove it to them; no, prove it to himself, that he could put in the work necessary to make them proud and become the man they believed him to be. Scenes of the incident flashed through his mind causing faint trembles in his hands, but he quieted his mind and shied away from the memories. He breathed in shakily as the doors to the Temple opened slowly. Naruto spoke quickly and quietly to the front-facing Nagato.

"It hurts so much though neechan, how can I ever let go?" Nagato stepped forward to greet the young monk in a loose kimono and a blue sash. Naruto stepped forward quickly to stand next to him. Over the monk's shoulder he took in the majestic temple; red stone walls expanded out with evenly-spaced pillars, made of the same red stone, placed to hold up the fancifully-carved roofing. The roof stretched up beyond even the majestic trees outside the walls. It felt peaceful, silent-save for rhythmic chanting-and had an aura of spiritual closeness. Naruto didn't really know how else to put it save that he felt somehow closer to the natural energy of the world. The wisps of energy, always present in his vision, seemed to flow easier-calmer.

"Greetings Chiriku, I was told you would be expecting our arrival?" The monk named Chiriku, barefoot of all things, seemed to be unruffled by Nagato's unsettling countenance and the presence of his Rinnegan. Huh. "Nagato-san, yes, Hokage-sama sent word via summon frog that I should be expecting you today-and that you would be bringing me a new student." His smile was irritatingly calm and peaceful-as were the wisps of energy escaping from his body. Naruto instantly disliked him. The monks eyes were the same as his smile as he switched from Nagato to Naruto. "One of the Hokage's own sons. We are honored he would entrust us with training you. I am the Head Monk here at the Fire Temple, my name is Chiriku-you are Naruto, are you not?" Naruto fidgeted and scratched at the covering on his eye. It itched something fierce. Nagato gave him a look.

He finally spoke after a bit, "I am...honored...to meet you Chiriku-dono. I am Namikaze Naruto. I only recently found out I was to be a monk-in-training-" Naruto's face twisted as if he bit a lemon, "-he neglected to inform me of the details." Chiriku simply smiled and beckoned them both with a hand.

Nagato immediately followed but Naruto waited a tick before reluctantly following, absently rubbing at his inked right arm. The main gate led straight as an arrow up to a massive set of steps that seemed to go on forever. Around the stone segments of the gate and to his right, a large open area-paved with stone-held a dozen younger monks practicing an exotic form of taijutsu. It flowed and twisted, graceful-powerful. Wisps of what Naruto now figured was the physical half of chakra energy flowed just as gracefully around the monks in time with their leaps and strikes.

He hurried forward to catch up with the two figures and slipped behind Nagato just in time to hear Chiriku answering a question whose answer he very much wanted to know. "Naruto-san will be with us for quite some time Nagato-san, to answer your question. Hokage-sama has stated that he believes Naruto up to the grueling training, both mental and physical, that all monks-in-training must pass through in order to become fully-fledged Ninja Monks." The

small group passed through the arched entranceway into a large hall, the floor inset with the leaf spiral symbol. Off to the side, Chiriku explained that the spartan dormitories of the monks led out into the dining hall and the training grounds. Everything, apparently, was connected. "To suffer is to be alive; and letting go of that suffering is to seek the Path. Here, at the Fire Temple, we study in order to unite our bodies and our minds towards the goal of true peace. As life is suffering, true peace is attained by coming to terms with pain. To that end, our training moves through all kinds of pain; both mental and physical." Nagato looked intrigued and thoughtful. Naruto noted that they were moving towards the dormitories. It was starting to hit him that he might be here for a great number of years. How often would he get to see his family? Izuna? Karin? He started to realize how out of it he'd been and how much he needed to make it up to them. Somehow.

"We will teach you many things Naruto, if you can follow the strict schedule. You will learn to control your body and your mind, you will learn more about chakra then you ever could anywhere else. You will be a warrior and a sage when you are done. Will you accept this offer? No matter that the Hokage asks this of us, we will not take you if you do not wish to be here." The two Uzumaki's and the head monk stopped, facing each other in a triangle outside of an open doorway into what looked to be the dormitory.

He thought about Chiriku's question. Did he even want to be here? He hadn't heard of many people being selected for this particular avenue...but those who had were legendary. His father and mother agreed on this; he could do it. They wanted this for him and they hadn't steered him wrong yet. Naruto closed his eyes.

_I am not special, no matter what Nagato says_-no matter what his parents said-he'd seen 'special' people before and it was obvious to him that they has something he most certainly didn't. But Nagato said he'd had a choice to make...and Chiriku believed enough in both embracing suffering and peace to dedicate his life to them. Did Naruto want peace? He did, but he wasn't sure they were talking about the same thing. Peace for him meant that he was able to forge his own destiny; a destiny that didn't include weakness, a destiny that let him protect the things that he cared about-his mom, his brother, his people. But right now... he couldn't even protect himself. So really, what choice did he have?

Stop whining!

No, he did have a choice. He could continue being weak and doing nothing but lamenting his misfortunes. Yes, he had his eye brutally destroyed by an enemy, but in a world that didn't recognize peace as an option, that was going to happen again and again until he grew strong enough to do something about it. To be strong enough to make changes. Nagato's warning rang true, he did have to make a choice-he was far from his goal, but he needed to take his first step.

And this was it.

Maybe he would finally figure out more about his mysterious doujutsu while he was out here. You know, in between tortuous training and stuff. "Yes, Chiriku-sama, I accept your offer. When do I begin?" Chiriku and Nagato smiled. Nagato was statue-still as Chiriku's whole form blurred and slammed his fist into Naruto's stomach. Naruto vomited as he rocketed into the Great Hall. Woozy, he raised his head and wiped his mouth as he saw Chiriku advance, still plastered with the calm smile Naruto was beginning to hate more than anything.

"Training begins now."

_**One Month After the Attack: Ancor Vantian, Land of Sky, Hangar**_

**MADARA UCHIHA**

He had not relished the idea of dying in that godforsaken cave. Floating in clouds in a city powered by an entity with chakra almost as evil as his own was definitely an improvement.

When Kabuto had come to him bearing secrets he simply could not have known, Madara was-for the first time in a long time-afraid. No kunai, tanto, or jutsu scared him quite so much as the idea of being so outmaneuvered as to be rendered helpless.

But he was in luck.

With a new and powerful body, revenge-driven ninja from the Land of Sky under his command (not counting his small gathering of S-class missing-nin), and a second-in-command who seemed to know as much about his plans as he did himself, Madara was finally in a position to execute his vision.

The most powerful Uchiha in history rested his gloved hands on the railing overlooking a massive darkened hangar in the bowels of his new subordinates flying headquarters. Madara's restored body fairly thrummed with energy-anxious and eager. He nodded and the lights turned on, one by one.

From the back row, light illuminated the thousands of identical pale grey soldiers standing in rows with military precision wearing a spiral faced mask. Madara smiled and turned to Kabuto who looked very pleased with his work.

"I didn't know how profitable this arrangement would truly be Kabuto-dono...but I am very, very pleased with the promises you've kept so far." Madara couldn't help but think Izuna would truly be proud of him-the Uchiha would conquer the _world_ and end this pointless cycle of hatred. "...initiate the second phase of the plan Kabuto-dono. I think that...yes, Yagura will be the easiest to recover." Kabuto bowed and retreated into the shadows. Peace was at hand, at long last. Madara sighed with contentment.

_Brother, I'll be with you soon._

_**Four Years After the Attack: Konohagakure no Sato, Hokage Tower, Office of the Hokage**_

**MINATO NAMIKAZE**

Minato had never seen the kind of agitation-bordering on panic-on his sensei, mentor, and pseudo-father until today. The self-professed Toad Sage almost resembled his name sake with the way his eyes were bulging out of their sockets.  
It was deeply frightening.

"Ero-sensei, care to share what has you so frazzled?" The bulky sage stopped his pacing but continued to ignore the group of illustrious ninja gathered in the Hokage's Office. This meeting, called by Jiraiya himself, was entirely without warning. Him and Kushina had been in a compromising position when Gamaken decided to summon himself into their room-Izuna had been in the training grounds behind their house with his sensei, Obito and his teammates-when they heard the epic beating that came down on Gamaken by the red-haired fury of Konoha. Minato had laughed himself silly until he almost pissed his pants. Well, until she decided that he deserved a lesson, too. For something he couldn't remember…

He coughed and turned his attention back to the occupants of the room, thankfully nobody noticed his perverted blush. Thankfully, Kushina was out with Mikoto doing kami knows what. But in Mikoto's stead was Itachi Uchiha, arguably the next in line for the title of Hokage. Minato was proud to say the Uchiha was maybe the most loyal ninja in his shinobi forces. Beside him with his arms folded, Nagato Uzumaki stared off into the distance. He had been less active with taking missions ever since Tsunade had confirmed something that unsettled nearly everyone who knew (admittedly a small amount of people) and was part of the reason they were meeting today; Nagato's eyes were not his own, and DNA-wise, were a combination of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

The question, though, was how Nagato received a doujutsu belonging to two dead men?

Jiraiya had mysteriously disappeared when he found out and they hadn't seen him in almost a year-he sent periodic reports via toad summon and each one was in yet another country, even going so far as the Land of Sky. The Land of Sky was not a place any Konoha-nin would ever go under any circumstance. Legend held that a tailed beast that was not a beast resided and scooped up any leaf-nin dumb enough to wander in...which now explained Jiraiya waltzing right in. Minato snorted.

Anyway, Nagato had been quiet and withdrawn, even from his friends Yahiko and Konan, ever since and with Yahiko and Konan getting married and expecting their first child...well...it was tough for the lonely Uzumaki. Kushina had been spending a lot time hanging out with him lately and it seemed to be doing some good, really for them both. His lovely habanero had been cooped up far too long.

The other members of the room included Jonin Commander Nara Shikaku and the Head of Konoha Memorial Hosptial and the Iryunin Corps, Tsunade Senju. She had just had her first child-far ahead of the age when most women would be able to have them… but she insisted. Nobody argued with the greatest medical ninja in the world and arguably the physical strongest to boot. Minato shuttered. Dan and Tsunade's child, he hoped, would get more of Dan's personality.

Since Dan was at home taking care of the baby boy, Tsunade attended the meeting in his place. Unfortunately, Hiruzen was with Biwako off in the Land of Hot Springs on a much-needed, _long overdue_ vacation. Just his luck.

Jiraiya interrupted Minato's musings with a flatly-delivered one-liner. Tch. Dramatic.

"Madara is alive and well. That's the good news."

He swept the room with his gaze, pinning everyone. Everyone looked punched in the gut-which of course the information was. It absolutely answered every question they had been having. This group, these, "Dawnbringers," had been cropping up causing trouble in every single nation in the world-except the Land of Fire. It looked suspiciously to Minato that they were trying to generate ill-will towards Konoha and make it look like the, 'Dawnbringers' _were_ Konoha-nin. It wasn't true of course.

Would Konoha-nin be using _flying technology?_

It pointed most certainly towards the Land of Sky being in collusion with _someone._ Someone powerful. Goddamnit.

Jiraiya had continued as Minato thought, "...Madara is the head of the Dawnbringers. They've allied with the Land of Sky somehow-and the plan is to capture the tailed beasts...problem? They've already captured all of them."

If everyone in the room looked punched before, it was worse now; Itachi was actually showing emotion. He was practically screaming (meaning his voice was a little higher than normal) as he stepped towards Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-sama, how have they capture Kumo's _two_ jinchuuriki? The power it would take...the Eight-tails container is said to be stronger than his brother the Raikage. Its..._impossible_ to capture him and the Two-tails at the same time!"

Jiraiya's face was bleak, shuttered. He shook his head and faced the library shelves across from Minato's desk. "Madara himself slaughtered his way through Kumo personally. Multiple spies confirm it. Kumo has been on lock-down ever since it happened-which, now that I think about it was about three days ago."

Minato knew now why their trade in ore and electronics had stopped arriving-the Merchants Guilds were in an uproar. Nobody knew anything about why trade just ceased.

Madara Uchiha could command the Nine-tails, fought Hashirama Senju to a standstill (they now knew), and was perhaps the oldest ninja alive-not counting the rumors of Kakuza the Bounty-hunter still being around. He had to unimaginably strong.

Minato looked at Nagato-he seemed unphased by any of this revelation. If anything it seemed to confirm something in his mind, his face was an open book to Minato. He redirected his focus.

The question now though; now that Madara had all eight...that left...Izuna.

"We'll need to triple the guard on Izuna. He won't like it, but he won't be able to do missions outside the village until we have confirmation of the elimination of this threat. I will _not_ let him have my son nor the last of the Bijuu." Nara Shikaku nodded and left, speaking to the assistant outside his office. Minato rocked back in his seat and stared in turn at each face present in his office. He lingered on the last face, red-haired, grave, and knowing.

"Nagato, would you care to share your insight on this matter?"

His wife's cousin sighed, "I fear I know what Madara is attempting to do…" He folded his arms and his voice, when he spoke, was lecturing. "What does anyone know about the Sage of Six Paths and the origin of the Bijuu?"

_**Four Years After the Attack: Land of Fire, Three Mountains Valley, Temple of Fire**_

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

When Naruto opened his eye, he couldn't help but smile. Today was the day! The no longer lanky son of the hokage leapt out of bed and floated a bit before he hit the ground next to his bed in the dormitory of the Fire Temple. Naruto adjusted his robes, tightened the strings, and rotated his arms-stretching as he began his morning routine. As he walked, he recalled the long journey he took to reach the place he was at.

When he had first arrived at the Temple, the adjustment period was...brutal.

Everyone got up while it was still dark, maybe four in the morning, and began with a half hour of mediation. After that, they ate a simple meal of rice and vegetables and headed out to the Garden of Peace, splitting up and-depending on your level-proceeded to learn the exotic taijutsu he saw when he first arrived.

The style, The Heavenly Subjugation, was all about speed and the complete domination of yourself and your opponent. The idea was that, since everything is connected, complete mastery of your own self ensured you mastery of both your environment and opponent. By reaching for mastery of sheer speed, flexibility, and precision one could be where your opponent wasn't and always stay at least two steps ahead at all times.

It was exhausting.

Naruto had always been, not frail precisely, but not as physically robust as his brother or even his cousin Karin. But here? His flexibility and lean body lent him a unique speed advantage. In the four years he had been training, he had achieved-today at least-his first level of blackbelt. He knew he was far from perfect-not like Chiriku at least-but he was confident that, at least in Taijutsu, he could hold his own with anyone but a high-level Jonin. Plus he loved the one-handed weapon forms.

So, he had relished the feeling of power and strength that emerged when he finally knew he could take care of himself. He couldn't stop smiling. One eye be damned.

Truth be told, his nightmares had stopped after his first year, the trembles several months after that. In his letters to his mom, Izuna, and his dad he made sure he thanked them profusely. Naruto loved it here. The simple routine and training… I mean, he didn't love when they had them practicing chakra control under raging waterfalls, and balancing boulders, or standing for hours on end on top of poles reaching halfway to the sky, or being attacked en masse by his peers, or climbing mountains with a bunch of weight tied to his small body, or reciting basic philosophy while running down sheer cliff faces, or perhas almost killing himself learning to channel the various elements...yeah, none of that.

Luckily, Naruto healed quick.

The silent atmosphere was the best part of the whole package deal though. He was alone.

But he was okay with that.

Books on every subject he could imagine were his for the taking in the Temple Library. A place that took on mythic significance in his own mind. He could read..._as much as he wanted!_ It was unthinkable. But he could only do that on his own time, which admittedly, wasn't much. Since everyone in the temple was much, much older than him they avoided him. Nobody really knew how to relate to him and on top of that he was the son of the Hokage. Downside being that they actually treated him more harshly than they would another...the Hokage had told them to, 'toughen' him up. So, double stair-runs, double the taijutsu sparring, double the bruises, double the intensity and ferocity when he was paired with someone a decade older than him and better in every way at everything they were learning.

Needless to say he learned fast.

Naruto took a turn towards the dining hall and kept walking. He knew these routes like the back of his hand now. Thankfully he wasn't whacking into pillars like when he first arrived...his peripheral vision was impaired-mostly because of his having only one eye. He saw the monks snickering, definitely not very monkish of them, but he just scowled and glared at them with his one eye. It was hard work to scowl successfully as his one eye had to work harder than other peoples two.

The other reason Naruto happened to be smiling today-besides it being his day of earning his next tattoo level-he had done something Nagato had said would happen when he progressed in his mastery of his doujutsu.

He turned off the wisps. Well, he turned off his doujutsu.

It was amazing. He couldn't see the energy swirling anymore! A small, barely noticeable drain on his massive, for a twelve year old, reserves stopped flowing. He checked the mirror when it happened and a big blue eye stared back at him, an exact copy of his fathers. Small tears of happiness had made their way onto his face when he switched his doujutsu on and off; he had confirmation that he wasn't some freak. His blue eyes were _just like his dads. _He knew he got his mom's hair, but… well, everyone always said Izuna looked like a spitting image of his father. Naruto had never had anything like that said to him. People compared him and his mom, but it wasn't the same because they were very, very different people. It was just nice to know that underneath it, he had something of his dad in him.

His dad was the strongest person he knew.

A noise in the dining hall drew him out of his musings. No, the sound was coming from… the entranceway? He hadn't noticed anything when he moved through it-but he was caught up in other things. Naruto quickly moved back the way he came, passing through the arches and past the open hall to the Garden of Peace and came to a stop. The Entrance Hall where he got his ass beat by Chiriku was filled with Monks. Chiriku was yelling.

A gong sounded.

Naruto activated his Rinnegan and immediately saw angry wisps of energy moving about the room; fear, anger, determination…

...hostile intent.

Chakra infused his body as he leapt forward to join the ground. He let go of the chakra as he came to a stop, shoving through the crowd, and tugged on Chiriku's sleeve. The head monk looked grave as he turned to Naruto.

"I'm glad you are here young Namikaze. We must get you to safety. I fear the two ninja at our gates are here for you." He looked up and two monks, Master Ninja Monk Kotetsuo and Weapon Master Hiruko-two of the most powerful monks in the temple-smiled at him and tried to lead him away. He shrugged off their hands and put on his most stubborn face, "Master Chiriku, we are in a _valley with one exit_, how do you propose I sneak away when they are directly in my way? We can stay here behind the powerful walls of the temple! I'll be safe here."

But a massive surge of hostile-feeling wisps surged and exploded and he felt the dropping of the chakra barrier as a physical blow. Whoever was out there was _strong_. Like Kage strong. He felt fear grip him and his hand trembled ever so slightly.

It seemed today would be a test of a different kind.

His stubbornness remained however. All of the monks around them had moved forward as one to stand single-file. It looked peaceful, calm-but he could tell by the wisps that there was a resignation to the the energy that meant only one thing.

Some of them wouldn't be leaving this place alive. Both of the energy signatures outside the walls were at least Kage-level and only Chiriku was a match for those wisps. Naruto knew he wasn't even close to that level yet, but he couldn't just stand here and watch his fellows die. Of all the things he'd learned while he was here, he believed the spiritual crap the least. Unfortunately, everyone single one of his fellows dedicated their lives to the principle that life was suffering and peace was acceptance of the reality of the situation. They were most definitely prepared to die to defend their temple.

But Naruto knew he couldn't run-he needed to see this through. He would make a stand with his brothers. Fate would ensure he got his wish. Chiriku turned back with Naruto just in time for all of them to see the smoking ruins of the twin guardian statues flanking the gates vaporized and a good portion of the long walkway turned to rubble. Lightning and fire sparked and danced in the massive smoke cloud that engulfed the vision of the monks. But smoke was no impediment to the Rinnegan-Naruto could see two large energy signatures moving towards the gathered monks. Chiriku stepped out in front of the line of monks. The line of monks tittered and fear wisps drifted like a cloud when the smoke cleared.

Red cloaks with black clouds…

Naruto's body rebelled against him. His pupils dilated and he felt all the memories he thought he was over flooding him-the trembles returned with a vengeance. These were colleagues of the man who killed crippled his mother and cost Naruto an eye.

Chiriku seemed not to understand or acknowledge the sudden storm of emotions in his youngest student, however, and he continued smoothly forward down the endless front steps to stand before the intruders. Naruto crouched behind a pillar to see better and to get himself under control. His breath came fast and hard.

"Oooh, we've got a virtuous-lookin' one! Jashin-sama will be very pleased with me. You cocksuckers are so easy to kill. A bunch of peace-lovin' pussies." Right there, as Naruto struggled through his meditations and centering exercises, he nicknamed the ninja with the short hair on the left, Foulmouth. Foulmouth was as different from his partner as night and day. Stitches, the ninja on the right, was a monster. Burning green eyes and a masked face ensured he would win no beauty-contests. Both shared an air of violence. Wisps of hate and violence permanently swirled around them. Naruto's chest tightened.

"Hidan, we are here for the brat. Remember that. I am pleased, though, that we can grab a little bounty on the side. Such as the 30 million ryo reward for the head of that young man facing us." Hidan-or Foulmouth-looked psychotic and delighted. But he frowned at his partner, "Kakuza, you can't friggin' kill a monk just for money-you'll go to hell for that!" Kakuza-Stitches-looked indifferent to Hidan's spiritual concerns. "Money is the key to all the doors in life, Hidan. Life is all I care about-I don't plan on ever dying."

Chiriku stood calmly-still as a pond-while listening to his attackers byplay. When he spoke, he drew the attention of both rogue ninja, "I have no idea what the two of you could want here...but please-leave quietly."

The ninja named Hidan threw back his head and laughed. Then cut off on a dime and growled angrily. Nobody could switch emotions like that-nobody. It was eerie.

"No meaningless slaughter allowed huh? Pity. But it doesn't matter-we've come for the brat. Hand him over and I might be convinced to kill only some of you." Kakuza was silent a moment before he spoke.

"Hidan...this is the a former member of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve-charged with guarding the Fire Daimyo. Don't get careless. You'll die."

Hidan just looked irritated. Instead of replying he charged forward in a mad dash, a three-bladed scythe kicking up dust as it bit into the ground trailing behind him. Chiriku looked calm-more calm than Naruto ever thought he'd feel in a fight facing two incredibly powerful shinobi. "Stay out of this Kakuza! This bitch is mine!" A mad cackle followed in the wake of the psycho with the scythe and that was when Naruto decided that, whatever happened, he owed it to Lord Chiriku to watch. So he stood up on shaky legs and took a step away from the pillar. Trembles coursed through his hands and he clenched them to get them to still. His mind was awash with memories from that afternoon-that afternoon when it all changed. The smell of sakura blossoms, the metallic scent of blood-coppery and thick-it all brought him back. He felt like he was eight all over again. Weak.

But it had been four years since that time and he'd done nothing but confront pain in every form. He knew he wasn't weak anymore and it was time to prove it-even if it was only to himself. His body stilled completely, training taking over. Naruto adopted the first Position of Heavenly Subjugation; Passionate Defense of the Mind and Heart. It stilled his fast beating heart and calmed his mind.

Lord Chiriku seemed to be holding his own, using the secret technique of the Ninja Monks. He'd only seen the Thousand-Armed Murder Technique once, when Asuma Sarutobi had visited the temple to check up on Naruto and report to Lord Chiriku. It was aptly named.

Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and one of the monks who trained him in the swordart beckoned him away. It proved to be a mistake, as it drew the attention of the statue-like Kakuza. He saw the wisps of energy he associated with intent sharpen and swirl faster.

All hell broke loose.

Breathing heavy and fast, Naruto tried centering himself as he pushed away the rubble covering his legs. Dust fell off his shaggy red hair as he shook himself like a dog. His back ached from hitting one of the massive pillars holding up the ceiling of the entrance hall. He flipped to all fours and stood-just in time to receive a punch to the jaw that rattled his brain. Naruto needed to get his shit together and fast. He would _not_ freeze like the last time.

This time, when the punch came at him blazing, he had enough of his wits about him to respond. Mind centered and breathing in line, blue wisps of energy blazed out of his pores and the world slowed; he saw the burning green eyes of Kakuza and the solid form of the punch that nearly took his head off last time.

It didn't connect.

Naruto, trailing wisps of blue energy, initiated the second Position of Heavenly Subjugation; body rotating to present a smaller target, the fist passed by his chest by less than an inch. His feet powered smoothly forward, taking him inside Kakuza's guard. Wind chakra whirled in a shapeless drill-like shape and covered his fist as his fingers curled and struck like a dagger-as if driving a blade deep into the center of the Dawnbringer ninja's chest. There was no way to avoid such a blow with him so close.

Kakuza's eyes widened as he missed with his second punch and took a fully-powered chakra punch to the stomach. His body folded like origami and he went sailing, taking out yet another pillar and ending up out in the courtyard next to the ongoing battle between Hidan and Lord Chiriku. Naruto straightened.

He'd done it.

Confidence suffused him and he grinned a wicked grin-anyone familiar with Konoha's Bloody Habanero would recognize the look. Still infused with chakra, he took the fifty feet between him and Kakuza with a flying leap. His opponent was just standing and wiping his chin of blood when Naruto came down in the fourth Position, an aerial form designed to take advantage of the angle and added force. Hands open and his body inverted in the air, Naruto grabbed Kakuza's neck from his aerial position in both hands and dragged his neck into a textbook over-the-shoulder hurl as he landed that sent Stitches cratering into the stone of the temple wall.

Naruto stood, taking in his opponent sticking out of the wall. He had to admit, if just to himself a little bit, that he was just a little bit badass. _Take that Izuna! _Naruto couldn't wait to spar with his older brother, just to show him how much he'd grown. Sounds around him faded, the constant sounds of clashing and combat slowed. He hadn't realized how quiet it had become. His opponent flickered and faded, like a mirage.

Flushed with victory, his mind ground to a halt and struggled to process. _Genjutsu_? No, bunshin!

The next punch came from his blindside and his last vision before he hit the ground was of his master's sightless eyes.

_I've failed...again._

_**Four Years After the Attack: Dawnbringer Enclave in Ancor Vantian, Border between Takigakure and Konohagakure**_

**MADARA UCHIHA**

Kabuto, Madara, and Shinnou-leader of the Village Hidden in the Sky-gazed out over the Three Mountains Valley as the greatest Shinobi Temple, the Temple of Fire, went up in flames. The flames were visible even from the command and control center on the floating city. The mission was a success.

It was Kabuto who spoke.

"We have almost everything we need to initiate the Eye of the Moon Plan, Madara-sama. How will we lure the last piece of the puzzle?" While Madara didn't trust his second, he knew the man was capable-very capable. Shinnou, of course, was simply a pawn. He didn't believe for a second that the man truly cared about peace. So the eldest Uchiha kept his eye on him.

"My Dawnbringers have purified the Temple of Fire and secured a most precious asset. My spies have told me a great deal about all of the targets-family members, vices, and secrets aplenty. Leverage. But this Izuna Namikaze? Nobody could tell me much more about the child than I already knew."

The command and control center of the flying fortress of Ancor Vantian was a technical wonder. Monitors showed everything from energy output to altitude to velocity. He examined everything, including how much chakra energy was emitting from the One-tails, or the Reibi as he'd heard a sky ninja name it.

Interesting that...he'd heard a rumor, sometime in his youth, that a demon from another world had landed in the Land of Demons. Perhaps there were others out there? He was sure that the Sage had never sealed this particular entity and that it hadn't been part of the Ten-tailed Juubi. Hmm…

"Lord Madara, you yourself claim that you don't know much about this child-so then what are we to do?" Shinnou always seemed so full of himself, but he did observe the necessary deference-so he wouldn't kill him. Yet.

"Lord Shinnou, Kabuto-dono-this child reminds me of myself. It seems that his only care in this world is his brother. Can't you guess what the obvious, reckless move would be for a Namikaze when he learns of his brothers capture?" Kabuto smiled like a shark. Madara looked out into the beautiful, clear blue sky.

"Make preparations for the release. I want to use the partial beast as a distraction while I tie up loose ends. The Statue is in a cave next to the statue of Hashirama in the Valley of the End. Fitting, no Kabuto-san? Make this happen." Kabuto left the room. He turned to Shinnou.

"Lord Shinnou, the Land of Sky will have it's revenge very soon-depending on how quickly we get to Konoha and ready our forces. I trust you will see to this?"

Shinnou leapt to obey.

Now all they had to do would wait.

_**Two Days After the Destruction of the Fire Temple and Naruto's Capture: Konohagakure, The Hokage's Mansion**_

**TENTEN**

"God damnit you two. I'm sick and tired of the _both_ of you. I hope you both choke and die on a riceball. So. Done." TenTen normally could handle her two teammates. She really could. But ever since Izuna, Kira, and her had been made chunin (and of course, Kira being younger than Izuna and Tenten both), the prodigies were at each other's throats!

Okay, well, it was really one-sided.

The real problem was that Izuna was a fucking saint. Really. He handed out food for fun in the poorer sections of Konoha. I mean, how could you pick on someone who did things like that for _fun?_ Kira, she knew, was definitely attracted to the older Namikaze-so much so that the sparks that flew could set fire to dry grass. It made Tenten want to hurl-hurl objects that is… because it wasn't sexual tension that manifested itself as anything lovey-dovey, it manifested itself as a constant barrage of derision and insults. Insults that flowed off Izuna's back like water. The man _smiled_ at Kira. SMILED. As if he was amused. But the best part? It drove Kira crazy. She literally couldn't be near her elder teammate for longer than a minute before shit got crazy and violent. It didn't help that the Namikaze had the same good looks as his father and you could tell it would only go up from there.

Tch.

Tenten had dragged the two of them here, to the Hokage's residence, to try to get them to see reason. But no, they just bickered. Again.

What a shock.

Tenten had decided to step out to clear her head. She had walked through the massive home with pictures of past Hokages, famous battles, and various knickknacks of the Uzumaki's and Namikaze's, and stepped out the front door. She sighed as she sat on the stoop and looked outwards towards the gates of the mansion.

Her eye, wandering aimlessly, finally dropped down to a scroll tied with Izuna's name in kanji on the front. She could've sworn it hadn't been there a second ago. She frowned and grabbed it. It fell open in her hands. But her trespassing was the farthest thing from her mind when she saw the contents.

Tenten had never moved so fast in her life.

Unbeknownst to Tenten, a white snake slithered away into the grass not two feet from where she sat. It vanished in a puff of smoke.

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

Izuna told himself that Kira was just jealous. But he wasn't sure how much longer he could convince himself that was what it was. He just didn't know what to do about this situation! Normally, being kind to people sufficed to get them to like you...but the nicer he was to Kira, the angrier she became.

It was maddening.

Tenten was well-meaning and he knew that this plan, if it had been about him and _any other human being_, it would have succeeded. The two would have talked out their problems and gone back to being a highly-successful Heavy Combat Squad like they had been until the aftermath of the Chunin exams in Kumogakure. Obito-sensei had taught them well and they, with the exception of Tenten, had won every single one-on-one match (Tenten had been knocked out by another weapons-user, so sad-and right at the end too) they'd faced. But now...well, the problem wasn't with their teamwork-they were practically telepathic-the problem really occurred whenever they were not in mortal danger.

Everything conversation, innocent or not, ended in a fight!

Kira and him had been arguing in the middle of his backyard for about twenty minutes now. Tenten had been gone for all of two minutes. The absence of their feisty weapon-loving teammate stemmed Kira's tirade for about all of a minute and a half. He really didn't know what she was going on about right now, but he was sure she'd been building to a crescendo.

He was truly at his wits end.

Which made kissing her seem a little more logical now that he thought about it… he'd kissed her full on the mouth to shut her up.

Surprise, surprise-it worked. Really well actually.

Kira had pounced on him after that like a tiger and it was only the return of their comrade that saved him from a savage...something. He'd been sure it would've been good, whatever it was. Strange, he felt a little irritated to see his bun-headed teammate… but all of his concerns; of Kira and everything else, flew away at the sight of his teammates white face. She held a scroll out with his name on it.

It took him scarcely a minute to read it and even less time to fly out of the compound at top-speed on his way to the Valley of the End.

**KUSHINA NAMIKAZE**

When Kushina Uzumaki returned from working with the sealmasters on the new barrier defenses at the walls and gates of Konoha, she couldn't have been happier; she'd had something to do and it was something she was _damn_ good at. It made her feel useful, wanted, and happy-plus, with Izuna taking missions with his genin (now chunin) team and Naruto away for so long, she'd needed something to fill her time (apart from cornering Minato for some alone-time, that is). The problem was precisely that though, being deliriously happy was always the precursor to Bad Stuff.

So, thirty seconds into arriving at her house, and after seeing Izuna's teammates visibly distraught, she'd known exactly what the Bad Stuff was…

Madara Uchiha was going to have both her sons in a very short amount of time if she didn't do something about it.

_**Konohagakure no Sato, Hokage Tower, Office of the Hokage**_

**MINATO NAMIKAZE**

Minato had been having a bad day and it only got worse when his wife dropped in, totally unannounced, to inform him of the fact that not one, but _both_ his sons were in danger from a legendary, supposed-to-be-freakin'-dead ninja. At this point, most sane ninja would have turned away from the danger and been very, very afraid. But Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, S-Class Ninja with Flee-on-Sight orders in every country, felt no fear.

He was downright pissed.

But right as mama-bear was about to exact vengeance upon his foe, worse news arrived in the form of his erstwhile sensei and self-proclaimed super pervert...though none of that was present now.

"We have a very, very _big_ problem right now...actually two somethings; the Sky Ninja super-weapon, which is a friggin' floating city and what looks to be the Very Worst Case Scenario that Nagato had been talking about...the Juubi. What do we do Minato?"

The Fourth Fireshadow looked at his wife first-seeing the agony and pain-and then met his sensei's eyes. "We go to meet the threat…sensei, Madara has Izuna and Naruto. I need someone to go after them. Whoever goes will have to hold off Madara until we can defeat both the forces of Sky and the Juubi." The three of them knew there was almost no hope of escaping this intact-one at a time, the forces arrayed against them would be formidable...but Madara, the Ten-tails, AND some stupid superweapon flying city thing?

Impossible.

But, they also knew that this was Konohagakure-a land known for producing the most powerful and plain luckiest ninja on the planet. If they couldn't find a way to win, who would? It killed Minato, but he'd have to entrust the safety of his kids to someone else.

The Hokage had to lead this fight. He knew Kushina would be by his side.

"Get the word out; I need everyone here ASAP and get me my wayward protege and Itachi-I need them...they are the only ones with a chance against Madara." He scowled. "I'm needed _here_. Well? Go get them!" His sensei and wife stared at him.

"Now damnit!"

They scrambled.

_**Three Hours Later: Konohagakure; Valley of the End, Hidden Cave**_

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

Izuna never had a chance in hell against Madara. He'd gone safely Eight-tails against Madara and he'd been beaten-well it was a stalemate, for sure. If he hadn't had his mom training him as a Jinchuuriki he'd never have lasted this long. His brother was out cold on the ground near a demonic looking statue. Naruto looked slightly blue. Izuna knew he had no chance in hell of winning-he'd have to go Nine-tails.

Madara looked in no rush to capture him. Izuna knew if he lost here, many more people than just himself would die. All he knew was that this dark, empty statue felt like Bad News to Kurama and he'd always trusted Kurama's judgment.

He heard Kurama snarling at Madara behind the seal in his mind. Kurama and him had been buddies almost from the start of their partnership. According to Kurama, his mind was too much like the Sage's to hate him, even though he was far too squishy. Izuna had promised to free him and his brothers and sisters. It looked like he may not have gotten his wish though-they were too late.

Kurama could feel the evil of the incomplete Shinku-the Juubi, or Ten-tails-carving a swath of destruction towards his home..._kira_.

No. His brother needed him now.

Izuna dropped into his mind palace without any difficulty, showing up in the beautiful rolling landscapes marked with memorial stones with numeric symbols etched; one to nine in a ring around a massive mountain sized fox. Nine glowing orange tails wavered slowly in the breeze. Izuna had always found his tenant beautiful-powerful and majestic. Like admiring the beauty of a lightning storm, or more accurately, a spinning tornado like the ones in Taki or Suna. Terribly awe-inspiring...but best viewed from a distance.

"So, Izuna-you've come seeking to wield my full-power have you?" The smile from the otherworldly creature was terrifying; razor sharp fangs as tall as he was stared back at him. He could see himself in their whiteness. Why were they so white?

Izuna looked away. "You know my heart Kurama. We are united in this-family comes first. I know you understand this, otherwise you wouldn't be so upset about the Ten-tails. Or are you as truly self-serving as you try to make yourself out to be? You didn't need to save me back when we faced the Two-tails in the Exams." Izuna finally turned and smiled.

"You, the very creature made of Hate, love deeper than you let yourself realize. Quit this farce and join me-join me and help put an end to Madara once and for all."

The Nine-tailed fox crouched low and stuck it's face as close to the seal as possible-it looked...thoughtful. "I cannot help if you do not remove the seal." It looked away and curled it's tails around its feet.

"I will remove the seal if you make me a promise of a lifetime. I will have your word, Kurama of the Nine-tails."

The Kyuubi no Yoko finally turned its head back and the burning red eyes reflected light like a cat in the darkness as it spoke, "Name it."

Izuna stepped close and spoke in a whisper, resting his hand on the kanji for Gate Seal. Kurama smiled.

"I accept."

A flashing, burning tidal wave of energy exploded in a swirling vortex as the seal disappeared and Kurama/Izuna ceased to be two entities.

**MADARA UCHIHA**

Madara Uchiha, up to this point, was very, very confident of the eventual success of this particular endeavour. He laughed to himself-even six years ago he never could have imagined that they'd have reached this point of success. His opponent was definitely approaching jonin level...but Madara had been Kage-level longer than this upstart had been alive. The eldest Namikaze child was very much overmatched and it seemed as though he knew it.

That is, until Izuna Namikaze started blazing with fiery, blood-colored energy he knew well. The aura of hatred and anger became suffocating, even for him. It got worse when one, by one, nine molten tails emerged from his opponent. Hurricane Namikaze had made landfall.

Madara stopped laughing.

**OBITO UCHIHA**

Obito Uchiha and his younger cousin Itachi were polar opposites in some ways, but in a lot of ways, they were very, very similar. The two had become fast friends over the years due to the unenviable fact that the two of them very much outcasts in their clan.

Ever since Itachi had removed his father from power and imprisoned him, the clan had almost wanted nothing to do with him. But, as tradition dictated, Itachi assumed Fugaku's former position as head of the Uchiha Clan...and with that, enforced isolation.

Itachi couldn't really talk to anybody but his mother about his own self and so, after Obito saved Itachi from a risky mission (a mission he wasn't sure he really wanted to come back from) the two had struck up a fast friendship. Itachi, then, knew how much Obito cared about both Izuna and Naruto. In turn, Obito knew how much Itachi wanted to question Madara-question, then eliminate him from everyones lives altogether. Obito suspected Itachi believed that would end the cycle of hatred forever.

Obito believed that to be a naive idea at best.

But at least that asshole would be dead.

It didn't take long for the two S-class Uchiha's to tree-hop the hour and half journey to the Valley of the End, though it did take them a bit to avoid the colossal tree-tailed-beast-thing making it's very noisey way to Konoha. Konohagakure's full might was just engaging it when they'd left. Obito would hate to be that thing right now. Seeing Tsunade pissed off _once_ was more than he'd ever signed up for as a ninja.

The two crested a ridge, actually Hashirama's head, and spotted the waterfall they were told would mark the entrance to a series of caverns. Chakra powered jumps took them the intervening space in seconds. The two had hardly taken a step when it seemed like gravity had increased a thousandfold and brought them to their knees. Itachi and Obito were both very familiar with the feel of the Kyuubi's killer intent...but those...those were a drop in the ocean compared to this. Through the haze of water sheeting down in front of the entrance, they could make out a red, roiling mass of chakra.

Izuna.

Obito was moving before he'd even registered the face of his sensei's son. Itachi followed on his heels, wrapping himself in a genjutsu.

**MADARA UCHIHA**

It was all the oldest Uchiha in history could do to keep himself from instantly dying. Every blow that came at him-and there was a veritable whirlwind-was fatal and precise. Eyes like the devil himself locked on his and never let his gaze go. Madara grinned. He'd hadn't felt this alive since his last battle with Hashirama!

The playfulness died when two of his wayward kinsmen joined the fray. It seemed as though he was going to have to play dirty to get what he wanted now.

A burst of speed put him up and away from his three assailants, and behind the littlest Namikaze who sat propped up and unconscious against the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Perfect.

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

Naruto was drifting. He vaguely felt his surroundings...his brother-no, he seemed like an angerwisp incarnate. The very embodiment of power and hate. Shouting echoed around him, a malevolence-a dark energy that sucked in the lightwisps-was right behind him...and gripped him. Naruto struggled to surge through the dark ocean of unconsciousness. His body screamed at him to _do something, do something now or you'll die die die!_

Naruto Namikaze surged into the light just in time to feel his lungs collapse and explode as they were pushed out of his chest and his innard became exposed to the world.

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

Izuna Namikaze felt his world collapse around him. The part of him that was Izuna at least. Kurama, the half of himself that was a millennia-old demon simply couldn't separate himself from the intensity of feelings-of _love_-that poured from his decade-old companion.

It hurt more than anything he'd ever experienced.

The look of shock and horror, then twisting agony on the little brother of his container twisted a knife in his mind. He felt Izuna's mind snap and rage take over.

**MADARA UCHIHA**

Madara had never been hit so hard in his life. He was beginning to think that damaging-maybe killing-the youngest Namikaze was the worst decision in his life. Fending off two S-class sharingan users as well as a berserk Nine-tailed container was never, _ever_ part of the plan.

He dodged as best he could the follow-up swipes of massive burning claw appendages made from chakra-they were lightning fast and he couldn't-

-his arm fractured from the blow he blocked. A claw took out a chunk of flesh as he stopped and initiated his trump card.

**KURAMA**

Kurama hauled back on the conjoined reigns; he knew Naruto was dying. Izuna knew this. There _was _a way to save the child-it was part of the promise he'd made after all...and it wasn't a cage if he did it willingly right? He spoke to Izuna and made his offer.

There was a small chance the both of them would survive this-so they had to do it right.

**OBITO UCHIHA**

When Izuna spoke to Obito and Itachi, they had a second of bewilderment as the cave rattled and the technique of Madara started to take shape. A blue, ethereal Tengu...god damnit. Izuna had told them to destroy it somehow. So, Obito used his trump card and traversed Kamui to strike directly at Madara.

**KURAMA**

The Kyuubi no Yoko, Kurama to his friends, had never done an altruistic thing in his life...but he was suddenly feeling sentimental. Damn bleed-over. Izuna had promised that Naruto would achieve what he could not, and they'd help each other achieve the goal of saving the bijuu-just like Kurama's father had wanted. The irony of what he was about to accomplish was not lost on him.

The seal was gone so all he had to do was...jump.

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

Nothing could ever have prepared Naruto for the true feeling of dying. He used his training to keep himself conscious, but there was nothing in this world like attempting to hold your viscera inside your chest. The youngest Namikaze desperately tried to keep himself from flying into shock-something he knew would truly kill him. His curled up position against the statue seemed to him an omen...he felt like a sacrifice to some dark god. All of this time he'd been training, living his life, thinking that the biggest problem was simply gaining strength and avoiding weakness. But truly, life was filled with suffering of all kinds and you could never avoid it.

You dealt the hand you were given and made the best of terrible situations. The key, he'd found in this terrible, frozen second of time between life and death, was that it was the choices you'd made; _how you dealt with things_, that mattered the most. Had he done anything good and worthwhile? No.

He'd whined and complained that he was weak...but he hadn't done enough to make up for that. A chance-that was all he was asking for-a chance to prove he wasn't weak, a chance to change things, to make a difference, to know that when he passed through the Gate of Death that he went as a hero. Someone who'd made a real impact.

Who had left weakness behind for good.

The burning in his gut got worse. He knew sepsis would set in soon-his stomach and intestines were partially exposed and acid had started to eat away at his flesh. Rudimentary medical training (for combat purposes) unfortunately, let him know how close his death was…

His eyes slid closed. Naruto was too exhausted to care about the fighting around him or the quiet that had descended.

Until a new pain arrived that washed away even the pain of being disemboweled. Nine burning lights appeared in the darkness of his mind and everything in him lit up with what felt like swords repeatedly passing through every inch of his skin. Slicing, cutting, peeling his skin back and exposing him to the world.

He needed to get away! Somewhere he could die in peace!

Naruto's rinnegan flashed and blackness deeper than the void of death took him and he knew nothing more.

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

Izuna felt Kurama disappear from his body-ripping free. He sagged but knew he didn't have long to do what he'd promised. Izuna knew his brother would be okay-he wasn't worried. He saw Obito was frantic when he saw his sensei's son disappear.

But they couldn't worry for long, Madara was still alive.

Chakra blazed up around him, deep and pure blue, and he began to run at his opponent pinned by Obito and Itachi Uchiha. He unsealed a mask, demonic in nature, and placed it on his face as he ran-feeling an otherworldly presence darker and more powerful than even the Kyuubi come over him. He began a long chain of half-remembered hand seals. Cold hands, the reapers own, tightened on his soul.

The look on Madara Uchiha's face told him he felt the same-it was time to break the cycle of hatred.

**OBITO UCHIHA**

Obito only realized what was about to happen when he saw his little otouto pull out the most famous Uzumaki Noh mask in history. Where and why had he even gotten that?

"No! Izuna no!"

**IZUNA NAMIKAZE**

Izuna Namikaze didn't hear Obito's cries or Itachi's attempt to reach him.

His thoughts were on Kira...he'd miss her.

"Shiki Fuin: Hand of the Shinigami!"

And Izuna died.

_The cave was quiet. Only the subtle glow of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path remained._

_**CE 1175, Present Day: Unknown Place **_

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

Darkness. Utter and complete. It had tried to unmake him, more than once now.

But he remembered his name now.

He was Naruto. Naruto Namikaze, Ninja Monk of the Temple of Fire, youngest son of the Fourth Fireshadow Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, the Bloody Habanero of Konoha. He was… let's see twelve years old? The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was probably closer to thirteen because Izuna-

Izuna.

Oh god.

He had forgotten, amongst the battle to regain his self, that the events leading up to this...imprisonment...Izuna.

Izuna was dead.

Dead. Dead dead dead dead! No. It couldn't be true!

But it was. He'd seen it with his own eyes. Naruto couldn't even understand where Izuna had gotten the Noh Mask-from the Uzumaki shrine? Their mom had shown them all of what was left of their heritage; including the sacred connection to the shinigami the Uzumaki's seemed to have. He'd seen it himself; from his unnaturally strong life energy, to the chains of the Strangler (another aspect of the Shinigami himself) that seemed to inhabit the body of every Uzumaki, to the masks they were asked to guard millenia ago, and finally the weak grasp death seemed to have on the ninja in their clan; it was amazingly tough to kill an Uzumaki-and even tougher to keep them dead it seemed. But Izuna had brought the Aspect of the Shinigami directly into battle-he'd _seen_ the frost, the skeletal hand of immense shadowy proportions taking the souls of both-what seemed to be-Madara _Uchiha_ and his brother. But still...Death had a soft spot for the Uzumaki.

Perhaps, then, Izuna was alive? Could it be possible? He had to know.

He had to.

Burning light whirled in his mind, nine flaming lines...like tails. Oh god. Izuna didn't...how would that even be possible?

But it made a terrible sense. Naruto, regardless of how much Death liked them, he wouldn't fight against a mortal wound. The red-haired rinnegan-user had a hole nine-inches across through his body-death would only come slowly to him-but it would come. So then, how was he alive? He suspected that the molten orange lights that anchored his mind to the here and now had something to do with it.

Training in meditation and the Positions came to him and he used them to drop into his mindscape; a place that represented his innermost self.

The place he'd known ever since he could first come here was _gone_.

Where before, his mindscape had looked the bottom of a basement; dank, wet, pipes threading throughout carrying what seemed to be various wisps of energy to, he assumed, his tenketsu. Now though, it was a battlefield. Smoke billowed and explosions sounded off-lightning flashed in a darkness above-stars shone brightly in the sky. It seemed his mind was doing battle with the void above. Nine blood red pillars of flowing, shifting energy seemed to hold the void above at bay. Weapons of all types lay scattered like fallen snow. The Temple of Fire, the greatest of the Ninja Monk temples, stood-battered but upright-in the very middle of the pillars. It seemed very much larger than he remembered it being. Naruto took the direct route, straight up the beaten path and into the entrance hall...and stopped short.

He'd now knew exactly why he was still alive.

Colossal did not begin to describe the creature in front of him. A fox, as if you could call a mountain-sized fox still a fox, lay still in the center of the temple entrance hall. It's face was regal; a crown sat crooked across it's matte-red fur. Eyes the size of a human being looked out, too intelligent for a normal animal-even one of its size. Slits opened and stared at him without reacting.

Naruto sat down, folding his legs underneath him as it all hit him.

Izuna had intended to die; the Kyuubi no Yoko would never have been here, in him, without his brother's death. Heedless of the creature that kill him without even moving, he put his face into the hard marble floor and cried.

After what seemed like an eternity, he sat up and wiped his face with a bare forearm. Naruto stared into the distance, seeing the endless battle going on outside between the red energy and the void. He started and fell back when the massive fox spoke.

"So, you are the brother of my previous jailor...you weep for him I see. Do not. He is beyond this world. We must focus on the here and now. I have been battling the darkness and decay for a thousand years. Healing you took a long, long time-you locked us in the prison that held the Juubi for thousands of years-and so I could only do so much. The Samsara Eye you possess will let us exit this healing prison." Naruto focused his attention on the fox and something nagged at him about this situation. The fox continued speaking as he sat up and stretched like a cat, tails pointed straight out and somehow missing the pillars that held up the entire structure.

"Izuna promised me a release from the seal if I protected you to the best of my ability and that is what I will do. In turn, you will help me in my goals as I will help you-together we will figure out what has happened my siblings and your people. Do you agree to this mutual promise?"

Naruto finally hit on what had been bothering him; the seal.

There was none.

He scrambled backwards from the legendary creature, eyes widening. "He...he unsealed you? Where is the seal? Why are you in me if you are free?" The fox didn't make a move, so Naruto settled himself-it wouldn't kill him now right? After healing him?

The fox was silent. It looked like it felt...uncomfortable. Awkward. What could make the King of the Bijuu uncomfortable?

"I...promised your brother I would save you and look after you if he freed me. I was very...fond...of your brother. He reminded me a great deal of my creator." Naruto's chest tightened and something like panic welled up. His eyes burned and he had to look away as the fox continued. "True peace was always at the forefront of the Sage of Six Paths mind; he wanted to create a world in which people worked together in harmony and lived for each other. Izuna very much wanted the same thing. Our goals were very much in line." The fox looked away, settling himself on his front paws. "He was the first container of mine that I have ever formed a partnership with-" The Kyuubi looked condescending when he looked at Naruto, "-and very likely the last. But we shall see. After all, things are different now because you do not contain me. I am here of my own free will." Rumbles ran through the Temple and both occupants looked up and around-Kyuubi answered Naruto's next question. "Your mind cannot handle much more abuse it seems; weak meatbags that you are, you take very little punishment before your minds snap." He looked amused at the thought.

"We must leave here."

Naruto tried to recall what happened and how he was to get out. "Hang on; before that, I need to know your name! I can't just keep calling you fox or whatever. You do have a name don't you?" The gargantuan fox looked affronted, "Of course I have a name idiot!"

"Well, what is it?"

"I'm not telling you! I don't even know if I like you!"

"Well, my brother was a goody-two-shoes and you liked him! What's the big deal? Just tell me your damn name!"

"No! I'm not just going to let you call me by my first name like we're _friends!_"  
Naruto let out an explosive sigh. The fox was more irritating than Karin!  
"Fine. My name is Naruto Namikaze. It's nice to meet you." The fox looked skeptical before rolling his eyes and huffing.

"Izuna called me Kurama. It would be...acceptable if you called me that. And, well, _you_ aren't totally irritating for a meatsack."

"Oh joy, I can tell this is gonna be fun."

The both of them just stared at each other.

Kurama spoke, "We still have to get out of here. Who knows how long we've been in here anyway?"

Naruto nodded, "As a monk-in-training, we focus all of our training on mastering ourselves. That means practicing conscious self-awareness...which includes every mind technique known to the Ninja Monks. I think that, if I focus on retreating out of this mindscape, my rinnegan will do the rest...I hope."

Kurama looked insultingly skeptical. So Naruto just plowed on and settled himself again about a foot away from Kurama's snout. "Just shut up and let me work."

Naruto focused, awakening his Rinnegan-concentric circles with three smaller circles opening up and spinning. Focusing and dilating. The blue of his eyes mixed with the purple-deepening to a deep color that stood out against his lightly tanned skin and vibrant red hair the color of blood. Kurama watched with bated breath; he hadn't seen his Creator's doujutsu in a very, very long time. Nostalgia hit him like a wave.

It looked...different somehow though, the more he looked.

Naruto stood up and took the final Position of the Heavenly Subjugation; Omniscient Life Gate. It allowed the practitioner to take their focus and command of their internal and external life to an almost superhuman level-and that was _without_ the chakra component. With chakra, it allowed the practitioner a level of control on a sphere of influence around him that bordered on precognitive. Indeed, true precognition was not unheard of in this Position, though that was for ninth-level and above.

Naruto focused on waking up, and unsealing himself.

He let his chakra infuse him and flow into his eyes as Nagato-neechan had taught him. His rinnegan flashed once, twice then-

-he was on his knees right where his brother had died face to face with what looked like a dozen metal samurai with box-like weapons pointed right at him.


	2. Chapter 1: The Guardians of Hell

_**Chapter 1: The Guardians of Hell**_

"**Knowing when to fight is just as important as knowing how." **

― **Terry Goodkind****, **_**Faith of the Fallen**_

_**CE 2175, Milky Way, Horsehead Nebula, Anadius: Cronos Station**_

**THE ILLUSIVE MAN**

Jack Harper was a name he never answered to anymore and only a few people alive even knew it-or knew enough to connect the dots to the truth. Instead, he much preferred the title, the symbol, born of a seemingly innocuous email that the Alliance had said came from, 'an illusive man.' Yes, that fit much better.

The Illusive Man.

Humanity needed to take its place at the head of the galactic community-he'd seen that clear as day when he ran around in his heyday on Shanxi; he'd had one of the first sights of the first alien species to interact with humanity, those damn_ turians_. He'd seen first hand the overwhelming might arrayed against humanity and realized that to be just, 'merely' human was not going to cut it. They needed to rise above and _conquer_.

By any means necessary.

So, when the leader of Cerberus was reborn as the Illusive Man, and not just 'Jack Harper,' he'd bent his vast wealth and fortunes, his considerable intellect, and the legion of people at his disposal, all towards the elevation of humanity. Gene therapy, genetic engineering, experiment after experiment on human test subjects-nothing was forbidden. In fact, when biotics were discovered-the plethora of powers the aliens in the dark of space controlled and controlled _well_-he'd blown up an entire ship full of element zero above a city on earth-spreading cancerous agents, mind you-in the hopes humanity would develop more biotic powers. Nothing was forbidden.

He sought out every technology possible and mastered it-all in an effort to prepare humanity for the dark times he was sure were ahead of them. It really was too bad humanity's main defenders, the Systems Alliance, were so short-sighted. They could've done great things together.

So he'd decided that if him and the Alliance couldn't work together...he'd take them over. The Terra Firma party on earth worked to insinuate a pro-Human agenda. His people worked their way throughout the Alliance in an effort to put forth the agenda the leader of Cerberus wanted. Sure, sometimes it got messy...assassination was _so _crude, but he did whatever he had to for the greater good. A hundred years from now, humanity would look at him as a savior-someone who did the unthinkable to ensure everyone's survival.

They'd thank him.

In fact, he had a call coming through from just such a one; Michael Lang believed wholeheartedly in what Cerberus was doing. The political dissident had formed something of a revolution and needed weapons.

The Illusive Man thought this a fine investment, provided they do him a little favor…

His musings were interrupted by a little voice chiming from his workstation.

"Sir, priority call from CSV Armado from an unknown sector near the Perseus Veil. They say they've just gotten a strange energy reading from a nearby planet, previously unmapped, and would like to investigate." His secretary had orders not to disturb him. It had to be important.

The Illusive Man leaned further back in his throne-like chair, retrieved a cigarette and lit it. That done, he activated a button on the side panel of the arm of his chair. An orange screen brought up the First officer on the Armado, a science vessel investigating the Geth sightings near the Perseus Veil. The bridge of the ship, and diligently working Cerberus crew, were clearly visible over the officer's shoulder.

"Thank you for taking my call, sir. We've found definite sightings of Geth closer to the Veil, but we ended up a little further out into the sector then we had intended...which is why we found it so odd that there would be a massive dormant signal and one recently activated energy pulse. It was strong sir. It scrambled part of the sensors. You wanted us to note all such occurrences so… Should we investigate?"

The man once called Jack Harper knew that almost no ships had ever come out this far for fear of the Geth. It _would_ be the perfect place for new prothean technology to be discovered. They'd had similar luck in the lawless Terminus system. Any discovery was worth the price if it advanced Cerberus' cause.

"Inform Commander Petrovsky that he is to investigate both signals and perform as thorough a search as he can with what he was with him. There will be a reward for the crew if you are to discover something worthwhile. Keep me informed." The officer nodded. "Sir, Armado out."

His day really kept getting better and better.

The Illusive Man turned back to the eventual killer of President Enrique Aguilar of the United North American States who had just connected via hologram.

"I apologize, Mr. Lang, I had some matter of importance crop up. As to the matter at hand, I can provide exactly what you need provided you do me a small favor." The nervous-looking man on the screen looked beyond thrilled. "I need you to assassinate the President of the United North American States for me. Do this and I'll supply you with anything you need."

Nervous before, he looked even worse after the Illusive Man's pronouncement.

The Illusive Man smiled.

_**CE 2175, Milky Way, Perseus Veil, Unknown Planet, Ruins of Konohagakure**_

**THE GODTREE**

The God Tree had become aware again. It had been a thousand years since it had last detected the sole remaining remnant of its power. After laying waste to the world in search of the last vestige of its power, it had quieted-gone dormant. Most would have viewed the complete destruction of all sentient life on a planet as abhorrent, or even evil, but it was merely trying to become whole once more-and if that meant killing everything to regain the chakra the Sage and that _Princess _had given to humanity...well, then so be it.

And now, with the arrival of the last piece, it was dormant no longer.

**ALLIANCE VESSEL: SSV CONSTELLATION**

The SSV Constellation assigned to the 63rd Scout Flotilla was on patrol near the Hades Nexus when it picked up the same signal that the CSV Armado had. The long-range scanners had indicated a burst of energy similar in strength to a solar flare from a sun the size of Betelgeuse. Of course, that was impossible as the planet would have been far less hospitable once the flare finished eliminating the atmosphere and killing all life on the planet. _But_ it was still showing up as perfectly habitable, which made it a little suspicious. Even more so when they saw the tell-tale black, yellow, and white of the other ship investigating it.

Rear Admiral Mikhailovich had given them permission to investigate-so long as they kept up constant FTL quantum contact in the case of emergency. He didn't seem too concerned. But it _was_ within the parameters of the mission of the Scout Flotilla-regardless of the fact that the Perseus Veil was not a place to venture lightly without a heavily-armed escort. Or really ever, at all.

But they moved in anyway.

Engaged with the newest of the stealth suites, though not as complete as the new Normandy's systems, the ship was just close enough-and invisible enough-to have spotted a Cerberus science vessel entering the atmosphere.

That got the brass' attention alright. A flurry of emails were generating and interest was peaked.

**COMMANDER PETROVSKY**

The commander of the Cerberus Science Vessel Armado had never seen anything quite like what was in front of him in his life and he never wanted too again. Massive roots as big around as a corsair swung and undulated through the air as if searching, like an amoeba looking for food. An energy bled off the roots that played havoc with the sensors. Luckily, they had locked on the second energy signal before entering the atmosphere and he'd sent a Kodiak drop ship, and a troop of his best, to retrieve whatever was sending the signal as soon as they'd sighted the deserted valley. Commander Petrovsky had never seen a planet look more like Sol-system Earth than this one-and he'd been to Eden Prime. It was uncanny.

"Commander, the team has encountered the signal, it seems to be emanating from an artifact of some sort. Sgt. Daylum describes it as a statue of a demon of some sort. Uh, it's glowing sir."

_Wonderful_.

This was great news for the Commander as he had been hoping to find another prothean data cache to worm his way into the Illusive Man's good graces. He'd paid well, _very_ well for technology from the protheans. He seemed obsessed, but then, it benefited humanity immensely-so what was the harm? But, glowing was almost never a good sign...better do this by the book.

"Inform Sergeant Daylum to follow protocol on this _to the letter_ or he'll be a chef for the rest of his life-or dead, assuming he lives from messing with foreign technology. The last thing we need is another incident with alien tech. Keep me posted on the extraction process." The communications officer nodded and returned to his comm.

_Maybe Patricia will finally get off my back if I earn this promotion?_

**NARUTO**

The boxy metal things in the hands of the iron soldiers were very clearly weapons. How deadly they were remained to be seen-and Naruto really preferred _not seeing_, thank you very much. Careful not to make any moves that could be construed as hostile, Naruto stood. Being a person who had only one eye for a very, very long time, it took Naruto a second to realize that he could see-with _both eyes_.

_What the hell did you do Kurama? How am I seeing?_

The fox's voice was smug in his head, "I gave you a new one-_obviously_. I mean, I couldn't give you the _same _one, but this one's better than nothing right?" The nervous shifting of the soldiers spoke volumes about how the monk looked. _What do you mean its not the same?_

"Well, I had to give you _something _and I couldn't heal something that wasn't there, so I just fashioned you an eye out of my chakra. I'm feeding you the information and processing for you. I need you in tip-top shape." The fox paused a beat. "I mean, it looks pretty awful-like a burning red chunk of energy in the middle of your eye socket...it's pretty terrifying….but it was the best I could do."

Naruto knew now why they were freaked out… he probably looked like death warmed over and with his rinnegan active, he'd bet they'd never seen anything like him. Speaking of which, who the hell were they anyway?

"Who the hell are you guys?"

Harsh language, unfamiliar to Naruto, barked out in what was definitely an order. Ninja's were military for life-a ninja monk was no different-and being the son of a hokage gave him an ear for military commands. These soldiers, whoever they were, were military. But they definitely weren't from Konoha. In fact, he'd never heard of _anyone_ speaking another language...ever. Everyone in the Elemental countries spoke a common language. So how far away did this military need to come from for them to not even speak a language remotely close to anything he'd heard before?

The tension was palpable and Naruto was in no shape to be fighting. Thin, almost emaciated, he knew Kurama could work healing miracles-his many spars with his brother proving this-but being sealed in, what was essentially a pocket dimension after pretty much bleeding out? That was pushing it.

His muscles felt weak and sluggish-as did his chakra. Naruto had just enough to keep his Rinnegan active. With it, he saw weird energy lines and wisps outlining the body of the soldier to the back left of what seemed to be the leader. _Huh_, weird. The wisps had never shown him an energy quite like that...

"Naruto, you don't have time to monkey around with these people, whoever they are-the last time we were free I had felt the Ten-tails,,,,Shinju...awaken. Well, _most _of it. We _need_ to find out what happened." Naruto agreed. They didn't have time to waste with these strange metal warriors.

Centering himself, he bit his thumb and surreptitiously folded his arms, pressing one of the tattooed seals on his arm. Blue energy darted up his arms and all hell broke loose.

Naruto switched places with the lead soldier in a fuuin-kawarimi. As soon as he did, the soldiers whirled and fired, strange lances of energy missing him by only inches as he started half-running, half-stumbling out of the dank cave and through the waterfall. A blast hit the rocks above him and his face was peppered with rubble. He heard more guttural speech echoing and he ran faster, pushing through vegetation and splashing in puddles as he strained for more speed.

**SERGEANT DAYLUM**

Sergeant Daylum had seen some strange things in his life, but being instantaneously transported across a room without any apparent technology or biotics tested his courage. He didn't think he'd be able to get that horrible, burning orb-a mockery of an eye really-out of his mind.

It saw through him.

Of course, the other eye was no less strange, and on a youth no older than fifteen no less. He'd _never_ seen anything that strange in his life. In Cerberus, you saw some pretty strange things so that was saying something, not to mention his many years as a mercenary for the Blue Suns. The alien moved so fast, so quickly-he almost _glided_ like an asari, or one of those drell assassins. Nasty fuckers.

That is the last thing they needed, an weird alien trained by the hanar. That could get…._messy_.

It didn't matter how dangerous this youth was, he couldn't let him get away and more importantly, he definitely didn't need the commander chewing his ass out for causing an incident. This was _exactly _the problem he was told to avoid. Daylum needed damage control.

"Cease fire!"

Powered armor squeaked as he turned and ran with his squad, he ordered his biotic specialist to enfold the alien in stasis when he had a chance, and called in for a Kodiak to provide extraction.

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE**

Naruto ran, and even without chakra, he still outdistanced his pursuers. That is, until he ran into a very, very big problem that Kurama summed up quite eloquently.

"Run the other way or you _die._ RUN NARUTO."

But he couldn't because the Godtree, bent on extracting every drop of chakra from life in the Elemental countries that Kurama was very, very afraid of, was squatting over the visibly _old_ ruins of Konohagakure and everything he'd ever loved. _Was everyone…? Dead? No…_

The world he'd known and loved so dearly was gone as if it had never been, he could see the rubble and the life that reclaimed all of Konoha. Lifeless. Kurama's warnings fell on deaf ears. It was all he could do to breath. He tried to remember his training...but his people…

There simply was no centering himself when his world was just destroyed right in front of his face. The trembles returned and he could feel a panic attack start as his heart beat in his chest like a hummingbird.

He didn't even stir when an energy field enfolded him and his body froze. It was more of a relief.

The last thing he remembered was a sharp pain in his neck and the ground rushing up to meet his face.

**SERGEANT DAYLUM**

Sergeant Daylum breathed a sigh of relief as the biotic stasis field took and they finally tazered the youth into the ground. His job was _safe_. For now at least.

Rushing and snapping sounds soon heralded the next big problem for the small squad of Cerberus Shock Troopers. That...thing, that tree thing, was coming their way, roots as big around as a house quested like a massive worm-its roots reminded Daylum of a thresher maw. They needed extraction ASAP. He really, really didn't want to have Lt. Davis bring out their Cain launcher. That would make a mess of things very quickly. Luckily, though, they didn't have to nuke it as the Kodiak dropship came into sight, swooping behind the ruins of a tall building in the center of this once-sprawling city. Daylum took a few helmet camera shots of the city for the lab rats to exam later.

The Kodiak, pretty much the standard extraction ship of every human being everywhere, settled its thrusters downward expertly and held a foot above the ground, hovering in place so the the troops could file in. Davis and Coots carried the unconscious-alien? Human?-still in the stasis field. No chances were allowed on this op. Daylum yelled at the two stragglers to hurry it up-the crashing sounds of the massive roots were getting closer.

"Taylor, Barron, let's GO we don't have all-" The stern lecture was interrupted by the sudden massive acceleration of the roots-the dropship swerved and everyone rocked as the pilot expertly avoided the attack.

Suddenly there were roots everywhere. Daylum boosted forward with his jetpack and grabbed his subordinates and hauled ass back to the ship. A smaller root grazed and punctured his suit as he ran. _Fuck_. Daylum fairly threw his squad members into the interior, whipped around and unloaded a clip on the root that had attacked him. The rounds severed it three feet from the tip. The door started to close and he relaxed.

The three of them collapsed into the interior and Daylum fairly screamed into his radio to go. The roots had missed them thus far, but only because of the handling of their pilot. They wouldn't be so lucky if this continued.

The pilot needed no urging.

_**CE 2175, Milky Way, Horsehead Nebula, Anadius: Cronos Station**_

**THE ILLUSIVE MAN**

A pleasant female voice chimed everywhere inside the Illusive Man's office overlooking the cold, dying form of Anadius-a red giant-and roused him from his thoughts.

"Sir, incoming transmission from Commander Petrovsky of the CSV Armado. Shall I accept?"

_Hmm, Petrovsky must really want that promotion-this was very timely of him. _

He nodded acceptance and his virtual assistant patched him through, Commander Petrovsky's ruddy, bearded face appearing on a holovid in front of him.

"Commander, this is a pleasant surprise, I hadn't expected you quite yet. Do you have something to report?" It was obvious from the way the Commander's face visibly struggled with a smile that he-at least-thought they'd found something worthwhile. _Intriguing_.

"Sir, we've recovered the energy signal from the unidentified planet-it was an _alien_. Well...we're not actually sure if its alien. It looks very human but...there are some...definite differences. The extraction team reported that it displayed some unusual abilities. You'll want to see this."

Flashes of his run-in's with the meta-turians skipped through his head quickly; he'd had very bad experiences with alien tech. Could this be another such leap? A meta-human? He needed to act quickly and figure out what they had on their hands, precautions needed to be taken to ensure this didn't backfire. Any advances they could ascertain needed to happen cautiously-if they couldn't control it, it simply wasn't worth it. There were...other ways they could try if it came to that. But the Illusive Man would make sure that anything they found would work _for _humanity, not against it. He needed to make two urgent calls. This just became Cerberus' new top project.

Two quick keystrokes summoned his secretary and Miranda Lawson. He turned his back on them as they entered the room and resumed his call with Petrovsky. He would get his promotion.

"Commander, detour to Minuteman station with the subject, Ms. Lawson will meet you there and get things moving." The commander acknowledged the order and exited the communications link. The leader of Cerberus turned to the two smartly-dressed women waiting for his commands. Women were so much more capable than men when it came to research tasks and organization, thankfully.

"I want to know what we're dealing with here; with this unknown. I want to be kept very much up to date on everything. Where is this thing from? What can it do? Is it human or something else? What are it's intentions? _Everything_. That is the only way we'll be able to steer it the way we want. Is that understood Ms. Lawson? Make a call to Teltin and get repairs started, it's time they came up to date and became a legitimate project." The woman nodded. "I'm putting you in the lead; but I'm bringing in help and resources from Project Phoenix to get this off the ground and give you some technical help. You have operational command however. Don't let me down." Miranda Lawson, one of his newest but most trusted operatives (for a variety of reasons) looked determined to do just the opposite-come hell or high water. After all, she did owe Cerberus quite a lot…

"Sir, I won't let you down. I'll make the calls, then head to Minuteman Station to oversee set-up and lab prep. Excuse me."

The Illusive Man agreed and dismissed her and turned to his secretary, who had remained statue-still through the entire conversation. "Contact Dr. Angersol; I'd like him to be prepared to receive a second Subject...also tell him I need a budget drawn up for reconstruction."

The woman nodded. The Illusive Man lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair.

_This could be the greatest discovery I've made yet. _Only time would tell.

**REAR ADMIRAL MIKHAILOVICH**

**Secure Alliance Transmission: Priority Code Alpha Green, **

**From Rear Admiral Mikhailovich (Alliance 63rd Scout Flotilla), **

**To: Admiral Steven Hackett (Alliance Fifth Fleet):**

**Security Code: xxxx-1RV4-xxxx-5YT**

To Old Man Hackett,

I hate to bother you while you're in that cushy position guarding Arcturus, but I've discovered something very interesting out near Geth space that I figured you might be interested in. One of my scout frigates inadvertently intercepted a Cerberus vessel approaching an unknown energy signal on an unknown planet near the Veil. I know that you are good friends with Admiral Kahoku-who we both know has a thing for Cerberus-and he will definitely want to investigate this. Last transmission the cyberwarfare suite picked up contained the words, "alien, human-looking, weird abilities." Which for me personally, is more than enough to warrant investigation and a raid to recover whatever the hell it is they found. I agree with the idea of giving Humanity a fighting edge-but Cerberus takes it to a dangerous level. On that, I think we both are in agreement.

On top of that, I have to report all-hands-lost on a Kodiak I sent to investigate the planet-coincidentally near the area that Cerberus evaced from. What the hell am I supposed to tell the families of those marines?

I'm continuing to track the Cerberus transmissions, but I'm not getting much. Please, you will follow up with this, yes? I promise there is a bottle of Stolichnaya Elit in it for you-and not the cheap shit you drink.

Regards,

Rear Admiral Mikhailovich

_**CE 2175, Milky Way, Horsehead Nebula, Unknown, Minuteman Station**_

**MIRANDA LAWSON**

Her boots echoed on the steel floors of the orbital facility. Miranda Lawson looked straight ahead, ignoring the stares of the male technicians and soldiers, as she navigated the labyrinth that was Minuteman. Three separate automated defense stations bypassed, with the odious looks of her fellow Cerberus coworkers divesting her of her clothes mentally. Loathsome.

She'd had had to break some bones when she first joined up in the outfit. She had been on the run for a while from her father, Henry Lawson, and it had made a lot of sense for someone with her kind of...modifications...to approach an organization that's main goal was to elevate humanity. Miranda had wanted to be a part of something bigger than herself-on the cutting edge of galactic events.

She'd certainly gotten her wish.

Already she was assigned to a prestigious research project-one regarding a mysterious new alien to boot! What more could she have asked for? Cerberus had given her safety, had given her meaning, had saved her sister, _and_ had guaranteed her safety so long as she worked for them. It wasn't even a hard choice. She loved it here.

The final checkpoint approached.

Project Phoenix, an ongoing look into physiological augmentation in humans for biotic purposes, was originally housed here-she had several of those scientists working under her as well. The Illusive Man had stated that this was a new, untitled project that he wanted incorporated into Project Phoenix when information was gained as to its efficacy. It was ambitious. It was visionary. It was just the kind of thing Miranda wanted to work on.

The Cerberus operative typed the security code and tolerated the eye-scan, stepping into the high-tech laboratory when it finished. The laboratory, covered in monitoring screens and various work stations, overlooked one of their most secure testing rooms. Those testing rooms had housed the almost extinct rachni, raging krogan, even a meta-turian (probably the last one in the damn universe) in a bloodrage. But now it held a single, scrawny red-haired youth strapped to an operating table. He looked like he was out cold, head lolling to the side. She stepped closer to the almost foot-thick ballistic glass designed to withstand impacts from charging beasts of all sizes. Miranda hadn't expected how human he looked-even like he was, stripped off all his clothes and his lower half covered in a white sheet. The youth, probably no more than fourteen years of age, was incredibly well-developed in terms of musculature; the whole upper-body was sleek, well-formed, the abdominal muscles stood out against pale white skin. It was odd though-the muscles were incredibly well-formed, yet he was thin, like the muscles were being kept at top-shape artificially while the rest of the body withered. Strange. The hair was odd, very few humans had such brightly-colored hair naturally; his was the color of blood. The vibrant hair reached down to his neck in a shaggy wave. She couldn't see the eyes-the report had stated that he had two very strange eyes; one made entirely out of some red energy, the other was purple, with concentric rings of a sort as a pupil.

Of particular interest to Miranda were the spiraling black tattoos covering both arms of the subject. Another section of the report had stated very clearly that the alien had touched the spirals and lines before performing the feat of teleportation one Sergeant Daylum had reported witnessing.

Intriguing, very intriguing.

As a precaution, she'd had them strap his arms down to prevent him activating it-whatever 'it' was. Hopefully the absence of contact would make a difference. Most females would consider the subject in front of her boyishly handsome, angular lines of his face hinted at him gaining strong, masculine features when he reached adulthood. It also happened that he was already tall for his age-another positive indication of possible genetic tampering. She simply couldn't fathom such excellent conditioning for a youth his age without it. God knows she was one to recognize it when she saw it-she just simply couldn't see how it would be possible otherwise. He looked like a career martial-artist, though closer to an up-and-coming apex predator than a human being. Miranda had seen that kind of look and feel more times than she could count, but only from the special operations community. Noted calluses and scars from obviously bladed weapons indicated a high level of combat experiences, add in the physique and the well-executed retaliatory strike against Cerberus troops...well, it didn't a genius to tell they were dealing with something very, very used to combat.

Three phantoms, the elite troops of Cerberus and most often solo special operators who had devastating powers-stood guard over the subject, along with a contingent of regular shock troopers ringing the outside of the lab. She couldn't afford to take any chances with this subject.

Which reminded her, she couldn't keep calling it a subject-it was very possible that, with the proper translation software, he or it could decide to cooperate. Miranda was very fond of germanic history, given where her father, Henry Lawson, had originated from. She had heard the stories of the one-eyed King of the Gods, Odin, growing up. The perfection of the gods intrigued her father, but the adventures stories were what attracted young Miranda. The reports noted that this subject, much like the Odin of the stories, had only one real functioning eye, they weren't sure what the other was-so she felt it was fitting to called him Subject Odin in her head. Not to mention, the tree thing they'd encountered to her smacked of Yggdrasil-the Tree of Life. Albeit a nasty, killer version of it.

The bustle around her was music to her ears. It signified to her everything was going according to plan. There were at least a dozen scientists in white coats, with the Cerberus Access badge clipped to it, bustling around the room; some were setting up stations, others were taking readings, and yet others were readying various surgical tools. She snagged one of the bustling scientists, an excited-looking Oxford-professor type, and asked for an update.

"Ah, you must be the Project head, Ms. Miranda Lawson? Good, good. I cannot tell you how exciting this is as we believe, even from the most preliminary DNA tests, that this is, in fact, a new kind of human being we've never seen before." He drew her to a screen she hadn't noticed before performing sequencing tests on…it was a human Genome on the screen for sure...but there were different colors. So many different types.

"Yes, he has so many new base pairs in his DNA that it's incredible! It's very unusual, to be sure, but not unheard of. The key though, we believe-since we've seen this to some degree in asari DNA-that it is linked to biotic potential-and the more pairs, the more control. He has almost _three times as many as the most biotically-capable asari matriarch we've gotten our hands on_. The life-cycle of the asari has them developing and adding things to the regular genetic code per their birthing process. _This_, whatever he is, seems to have it happen innately from birth. What kind of energy it is the base pairs control? Well, we have no idea. We'd like to call him Homo Sapiens Chakram." The scientist smiled, the kind of smile a little boy gives his parents when he's proud of his work and wants recognition. But Miranda reeled from the information. The Illusive Man was going to be pleased-_very pleased_.

"Of course, we were waiting for you to be present before we started the Element Zero experiments. See, we haven't discovered _any_ nodules in his body-so how could he even utilize biotics? As a result, we don't believe he is using what we understand as biotics. So we're curious to see how exposure to eezo would affect him." She had started shaking her head before he had even begun. "I'm sorry, Mr.-?" Miranda dipped her head to look at his badge, "-Mr. Sigurd, but we must implant the translator and understand what we are dealing with before we make _any_ further headway. I'm sure you understand that we cannot just dissect the first subject of his kind we come across. How soon can we wake up him?" Mr. Sigurd did not look best pleased with her. That was fine. She met his eyes and he looked away.

"We've already given him the esophageal implant, so he should be able to understand us and vice versa. Anytime you'd like, we can give him the antidote to the sedatives." She smiled, pleased. This was her chance to prove herself-do this well and she'd be set for life. _Oriana_ would be set for life.

"Wake him up."

**NARUTO NAMIKAZE, Codenamed, SUBJECT ODIN**

Naruto knew he was dreaming.

He walked among the ruins of his homeland. Vibrant green life had sprung out of the now-desolate wasteland of his home. Faded scorch marks marred familiar landscapes, whole sections of the city were gone-gone as if they'd never existed. Thankfully, the Hokage tower still stood; albeit in complete disrepair. A tree, massive and gnarled, had sprouted through the center of the leaning tower and supported half the structure. It was a wonder.

Tears flowed as he pictured the last stand of the Ninjas from the Land of Fire. He knew, _knew_ with a certainty that couldn't be faked, that he'd been gone a long time. Far longer than he'd ever imagined when he panicked that night in the cave. The night when the whole course of his life shifted and he'd woken up in this unfamiliar land. He was a stranger in a strange land here.

This was not his world any more.

He'd seen the beast, the tree of all things, that he suspected had done this. Immense, enormous, gargantuan; all these words did no justice to the true majesty and size of the Shinju Ten-tails. Stack the mountains of Kaminari no Kuni on top of one another and you might have a good picture. Kurama, after a little prodding, had called it a God.

Naruto had no trouble believing him.

His life, up until this point, had been a good one-despite the tragedy and pain, he'd had good times...and some great times. But what was one to really make of a life of ceaseless battle? It seemed that Konoha had been beset on all sides by people who wished to rip away the life they all lived. The happiness that they'd managed to find, together as a people. He never noticed before, really, how happy people truly were-despite existing in a world where Ninja ruled with an iron fist.

But, freedom had a cost.

As a child, he'd never noticed. His mother and father defended Izuna and he with everything they had. They never truly experienced the horrors of war, or the deprivations that it brought, or how precious it all really was...or how fragile.

Naruto's father was the Hokage. The strongest and most well-respected ninja in the village. Naruto had no idea what it really meant to don the hat and the robe-especially in a world that saw violence and bloodshed so often.

But now? All Naruto knew was that his way of life was gone. Wiped away by something-Godtree, metal soldier, their own petty cycle of violence and hatred….it didn't matter.

Because it was gone and Naruto was alone. The wind blew around him, leaves from the trees in the reclaimed Konoha swirled in its wake. Footsteps echoed against the empty plaza where Naruto stood shading his eyes from the dream-world's sun.

A man in a red suit stood watching him. It was obviously Kurama.

A bushy red tail stuck out from the back of the pristine three-piece suit of dark red cotton. Long, slick black hair emphasized the slitted red eyes staring out at his new container. Naruto couldn't really place the expression as the newcomer gazed about, taking in the wreckage of vendor's stalls, pitted cobblestone streets-a faded sign for Higurashi's Blacksmithy. Kurama picked his way carefully towards him, avoiding obvious pitfalls, all the while hands stuck in his pants.

"What do you want? Come to laugh? Konoha is destroyed. It should be a happy moment for you should it not?" The fox was silent. It made Naruto unexpectedly angry.

"You of all people should have wanted Konoha destroyed right? Well? Look! You got your wish! Izuna is gone, mom's gone-even Madara Uchiha's gone! You got everyone! You might as well just kill me now. I have _nothing_. No family, no home. Not even a _hint_ of what happened. Not anymore." The bitterness surprised even him with its intensity. "You'll be free if you kill me. I won't stop you." Kurama looked long and hard at Naruto. When he spoke, it caught Naruto off guard with how gentle it was, "Naruto, your brother sacrificed himself for you. He made me promise I'd help you and, in turn, that you'd help me with my goal. He died believing you could make a difference. Your people obviously died fighting. They didn't go peacefully-see the signs?" And Naruto did, when he started looking. He saw signs that his people fought for every inch. A massive mound in the distance, near the Hokage mountain, he saw now was actually some huge vehicle-almost like a city-rammed into the ground. The defenders had done a damn good job in beating back the invaders. He smiled through his drying tears.

His people had fought with strength and honor and hadn't, it seemed, given up even at the end. Not like he was now...well...could he do any less?

This might be the end of everything he knew, but Naruto wouldn't give up.

Who knew, really, if his people were gone? Kurama seemed oddly sure that there were still some of his people around. Trust the fox to know what the true death of an entire people looked like. He snorted. "The King of the Bijuu-comforting in a time of crisis? I never would have guessed." The fox-in-human-skin growled, but Naruto had seen through him. "I hate seeing weakness and tears and..and _sniveling._ It's disgusting. Especially from bags of meat." Naruto looked affronted, but it was a far cry better than feeling sorry for himself.

_Thanks Kurama._

Looks like it was time to wake up.

_**CE 2175, Milky Way, Horsehead Nebula, Minuteman Station, Secure Observation Room**_

**MIRANDA LAWSON**

Alarm klaxons blared. The phantoms all had their hands on their sheathed weapons and the rest of the troops, the ring of Cerberus Shocktroopers, looked tense-more tense than she thought the subject required now that she thought about it...did they sense something she didn't?

"At ease everyone, this is supposed to be a friendly first contact situation." She turned back and spoke quickly and quietly into her mic indicating the visible troops should proceed past visual range of the subject. The last thing she needed was Subject Odin thinking she had an army out here waiting to subdue him...even if she did.

All eyes snapped to the subject as his eye opened...showing a normal, beautiful cornflower blue eye. _Huh._ She couldn't get a good look at the other one from where she was, the subject had placed a hand around it, covering it from view. She hadn't noticed before, but he had six lines across his face...like whiskers. Almost like a cat...or...something. Miranda made a mental note to investigate that further-animal hybridization was against the Systems Alliance Charter _and_ the Second Geneva Convention on Human Experimentation. Had she discovered a dirty secret of the alliance? The thought made her giddy.

She stilled her mind and focused on the patient who was coming around. Thankfully, they'd clothed him with regular hospital garb in an effort to put their best foot forward. It didn't need to look like he was in a torture chamber-even if he was.

He didn't seem to be reacting violently. Miranda had been trained by the best Cerberus had to offer in psychological profiling-reading dangerous people being one of her specialities as an Operative-and he seemed to be very calm, at ease, no sense of extreme disorientation or discomfiture. It seemed her estimation of him having some level of training was correct. That simply meant that the next half-hour would be crucial. She bent towards the microphone piping sound directly into speakers in the observation room and spoke.

**NARUTO, SUBJECT ODIN**

It felt like he was swimming, trying to rise up from the depths of unconsciousness towards the harsh phosphorescent light of the metal room he found suddenly found himself in. He could hear Kurama's quiet rumble-a glottal sound, possibly a natural apex predator's reaction to being backed into a corner. Naruto had to remind himself the massive fox was naturally drawn-from what he remembered of his mother's explanation-to area's of natural violence, anger, hatred, and strong emotions.

He seemed to be riveted by...where 'here' was.

Naruto was wary already, but that sent his worries skyrocketing. These people who captured him couldn't possibly have altruistic intentions if the level of violence present here was enough to intrigue Kurama.

He needed to move.

Debating, he deactivated his rinnegan to present as much of a non-threatening front as possible. Naruto covered his eye as he sat up-the eye apparently was not hindered by his hand-and he could see just fine. Metal. Metal everywhere. It felt like a cage. Naruto slowly took in his surroundings, including the three sleek-looking armored figures guarding what he assumed was the door, also metallic. White seemed to dominate the room, from the panels on the ceiling and floor to the table he had been laying on. Yellow and black, like the patches he'd seen on the troops who'd captured him, accented the room. Running in stripes along the bottom of the paneling underneath the massive window that ran parallel to the table he was upright on. The window was dark and he couldn't see anything beyond it.

Next to table squatted a metal arm-they loved metal apparently-and several lights were attached to it along with other stuff that looked none too pleasant...and more instruments whose purpose was totally unknown. It looked a little bit like a hospital...but he wasn't fooled by the clean atmosphere.

It stank of blood.

His nose bathed in it; a dozen different kinds of blood-he didn't know how he could tell only that he could. He'd known, from his brother, that he probably had the whiskers, and the nose, the extraordinary hearing, and the healing from Kurama, but that was about it as far as he could tell. His Rinnegan took care of most of the chakra control issues-and his Monk training took care of the rest. Kurama and he had an unprecedented level of cooperation straight out of sealing (or unsealing as it may be). But he still needed years of bijuu-chakra orientation training to even thinking of handling more than three or four-tails worth of chakra-he wasn't a prodigy like his brother.

Frankly, he was in decent shape, all told, for all the shit he'd been through.

He took mental stock of everything he had; chakra control was dicey because of the weird mixing process, he had his sealed weapons, his short sword, his kunai, no shuriken, no senbon, some field rations, a tent...er, he thought he had a sleeping bag maybe, some soldier pills...hmm, what other crap did he have sealed up in there? Oh! He had some explosive tags and some fuuinjutsu supplies….yup, that was it. First thing was first though, he needed to communicate with these people and see whether they were friend or foe. Probably foe, but he'd need to make sure first before he needed to put foot to ass.

Luckily they made the first move.

"Can you understand me? Nod once if you can."

Naruto nodded.

"Good."

Somewhat thrown, he noted that it was a rather melodious female voice. And he could understand her; he could've sworn they were speaking another language…

"On behalf of my organization, I'd like to apologize for the rough treatment you received at the hands of our men. They were startled and reacted poorly and for that, we'd like to apologize." So, ass-kissing was the order of the day huh? Well, he was sure that these incidents were pretty common...and they didn't _have_ to apologize. He'd go along with it for now and see what they said. Kurama rumbled agreement in the background of his mind.

The voice continued.

"Unfortunately, protocol demands I treat you as hostile until we prove that you have no intent to harm us or our organization. We'd like you to answer a few questions and then I swear we will let you out of the cell once we are satisfied-is this acceptable to you?"

Naruto could tell this was a touchy point, the formidable-looking beings guarding the door subtly shifted their feet. Hands tightened on grips. It seemed they would be hostile if he answered the wrong way. He'd continue to play along and see where this went, if he answered their questions and they let him go, Naruto would continue to play nice. If, however, they didn't release him... Well, he was due for some therapy of the violent kind.

"This agreement is acceptable for the moment." Couldn't hurt to be polite right? "I'll answer the questions only if I can speak face-to-face with my questioner. I believe that is only fair?" Naruto could feel Kurama smile in the shadows of his mind.

Mom, Dad, Izuna, Nagato...Lord Chiriku... I hope I'm making you proud.

He let his training take over and the mantra he'd heard for four years straight echoed throughout his mind; _once you let go of control, control becomes yours. When control is yours, you control everything. Do not let up-ever. Victory and peace are achieved through relentless pursuit. Become as the very elements; eternal and relentless, regenerative and destructive. _

So Naruto let go. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Then she asked him a question that needed an answer.

**MIRANDA LAWSON**

She had forgotten she'd been holding her breath. The company line for dealing with new alien life was tailored like a choose-your-own-adventure novel; if Subject reacted A use B line, etc. Miranda hadn't had to use the hard stance which she was very thankful for. Subject Odin seemed...amused...more than anything. She'd expected, since the after-action report had stated he seemed emotionally-distraught once he'd viewed the rubble of a local city, that he'd have been...more off-balance. It was interesting that this was not the case as far as she could tell. Cerberus, and therefore her, would have to move more carefully. She wanted to be on his good side if at all possible..that is until he'd made his last statement. Miranda would have to take responsibility and step in there with that alien who could do god-only-knows and had completely unknown powers, motivations, etc.

She needed to contact the Illusive Man.

Miranda returned to her mic, "These are reasonable and fair questions, but I need to gain permission. First though, do you have a name?"

**NARUTO**

"...do you have a name?"

Such a simple question, yet Naruto had no answer. When he had first gone to counseling after he was attacked, aka. The Incident, the Yamanaka attending him had spoken at length about various subjects. Naruto hadn't listened much. But one idea did stick out to him that he knew now was true, one needed to let go of the past in order to create a better future. Of course, he'd thought it was total bullshit at the time and had told the man so in his head. Naruto hadn't spoken much at that time.

So did keeping the name that reminded him of so much pain do him any favors? He didn't know, but he suspected it might help him to reinvent himself a little. He was only thirteen for crying out loud! He had his whole life ahead of him!

Naruto lifted his head and spoke towards the darkened window. Unbeknownst to him, it was right at Miranda.

"I had a name once. But not anymore."

**MIRANDA LAWSON**

Miranda suspected the faint current of pain running through his response spoke volumes about the reason he didn't have a name, but it wasn't her job to pry. Yet. She privately continued to refer to him as Subject Odin in her head.

Dr. Sigurd met her before she even took two steps away towards the comm station. She ignored him as she dialed in on the Illusive Man's private number. Nervous and almost vibrating, the scientist grated on her nerves as she waited for the call to connect. Miranda almost sighed with relief when the familiar hologram of the Illusive Man, sporting a lit cigarette as always, popped into view.

"Miranda, a pleasure as always. I assume you have something to report?" Miranda knew he'd be pleased when he heard what she had to say. "Sir, we've made contact-he isn't violent as of yet. He has been, thus far, receptive to our questioning. I've conveyed our apologies for a hostile first contact and was very apologetic that we had to keep him in there until we decide he isn't dangerous to our organization." She nodded to the scientist next to her. "Dr. Sigurd here believes that Subject Odin-" The Illusive Man interrupted her. "Subject Odin? What made you pick Odin?" Miranda hesitated, it was stupid...but the moniker just seemed to _fit_. "Sir, he has one eye that is made up, from the reports, of pure energy, and the other is normal-despite what the report said. I felt that Odin, as an old-Earth god with one eye and a passion for war seemed...accurate." The Illusive Man looked thoughtful, puffing on his cigarette. He gestured to continue after a minute of silence. "Dr. Sigurd has analyzed the DNA we've retrieved and Odin is human-albeit one that has reached something of an evolutionary leap ahead in controlling a unique energy source that we are fairly sure is derivative biotics. If we want to go any further though, he is requesting to meet and speak with me face to face."

This time, the leader of Cerberus was quiet for a long time before he agreed. "Do it. Obviously take precautions. I don't want one of my most promising agents dead before her time. But-and this is non-negotiable-if he shows hostile intentions or attempts to escape without authorization...use the collar. Is that understood?" Miranda nodded immediately, expecting the reasonable precaution.

"Understood sir."

**NARUTO/Subject Odin**

When the voice returned, he couldn't have been happier. The room was getting colder and he only had a thin hospital robe on. For fun, he'd been staring at the guards with both eyes uncovered. It seemed to make them really uncomfortable, if the stiffening of their posture was any indication. If the three of them got any straighter, well, he was pretty sure they'd be stuck like that forever.

"Please stay seated and we will be in shortly to speak with you as you requested." Nodding towards the window and presumably the speaker, Naruto continued gently swinging his legs. The name thing was still occupying his thoughts and it occurred to him that this...Cerberus...must have had a name for him themselves. A nickname? Or a codename? From what he'd seen so far, they were well-funded, organized, and very much a military group. The implications of his capture were not lost on him. Where the hell was he anyway? And what were they doing in Konoha of all places?

All of these questions needed answering.

But the obvious secrecy with which they went about everything bothered Naruto. I mean, he was no stranger to secrecy-he was a ninja-but his father had had numerous problems with shadowy organizations over the years, not the least of which was Root, which somehow disappeared over night after the Uchiha Incident. Summoned toads had brought him a lot of letters during his stay in the Temple of Fire and his parents tried to keep him up to date as best as possible. Sometimes they included too much detail. He shuddered.

The door he'd noted earlier opened up and a woman walked in, clad in a skin-tight black and white outfit with the Cerberus logo stamped on the right breast...and speaking of breasts…

The woman was young and gorgeous. Midnight black hair was up in a fancily done ponytail that hung down her back. Graceful, aristocratic cheekbones accentuated her steel blue eyes. Naruto was no stranger to beautiful women being extraordinarily deadly-and this one very clearly was. She moved like a kunoichi. The click-click of her heels on the metal tiles drew Naruto to her perfect curves as she walked. Tch. Of course they'd send a beautiful woman to interrogate a young teenage boy. He couldn't help being secretly pleased.

He couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as he waited till she crossed the fifteen feet of distance between the door and his table. She stopped about four feet away from him-well within his reach, but she probably didn't know that. One of the soldiers brought her a chair, placing it behind her before retreating, all without looking Naruto in the face. Not that he could tell even if they _were _looking. Those masks covered just about everything. They could be machines for all he knew.

She settled herself and looked at him, clearly evaluating him. So he asked the obvious question, "So who're you?"

Unruffled, the talking mouth of the organization folded her legs and replied, "My name is Miranda." Naruto nodded. He suspected she was telling the truth, he was usual pretty good about detecting if people were lying-well, that was only with the Rinnegan on (the wisps never lied). But he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt this time.

"Does Cerberus have a name for me?"

The woman, previously straightforward, looked away. He could see a faint blush on her pretty skin. Uncle Jiraiya would have _killed _to be him right now. "Odin, actually...you are Subject Odin. I came up with it."

Naruto just looked confused. She obviously could tell because she elaborated, "Odin is a Norse God of War and Magic...he had one-eye, well, it seemed to fit. Given your...uniqueness." It was Naruto's turn to be somewhat flustered. They compared him to a God of War? It was kind of nice actually...disturbing, but nice. I mean, he hadn't even really _attacked_ them, just used one as a distraction. "What's Norse?"

"Norse is a very old, long dead people on humanity's home planet, Earth. Are you familiar with Earth? You look very human for an alien."

Huh, a dead people...it seemed a fitting tribute and wait-what? Naruto stopped processing at Earth. "Whatdya mean planet? Whatdya mean alien? I'm not an alien!" The slightly extended canines he now possessed, combined with the burning eye made him look not-so-friendly at the moment. It seemed-finally-to make her uneasy. She shifted, crossing her legs the other way. "I'm sorry if I've offended you, but with your unique eyes and abilities-and the fact we came upon your planet by accident-we assumed you were alien."

His brain started to work again and he could hear Kurama muttering to himself in the background. Came upon your planet by accident? Who were these people? _Where _was he? What the hell happened?

Most importantly, how long had he been sealed in that statue?

"I'm sorry-what year is it?" This, 'Miranda' seemed unconcerned while Naruto started to panic in his head. It couldn't be…

"It is 2175 of the Common Era-you are on an orbital facility hovering above a planet many lightyears from where we found you." All brain function ground to a halt as he processed the fact he was _a thousand years in the future._ That is, assuming they had the same calendar year. But still!

Kurama sounded like he swallowed something as he was faintly choking and coughing in the background. Apparently even he didn't realize how long they'd been in there. It certainly explained the constant battle Kurama had been engaged in; he was defending Naruto's mind from the ravages of time.

No weakness, no weakness, no weakness-he wouldn't let them see how shaken he really was...so he sucked in a breath and struggled to blank his mind. Focus.

"Who are you people? You say you came upon my...planet...by accident? How?" Miranda seemed oblivious to the burning desire in Naruto to have these questions answered. He struggled to keep it off his face. The information could confirm what he thought he already knew; that his people were almost assuredly all dead. _A thousand years._

"Cerberus is an organization dedicated to the preservation and elevation of humanity. There are many threats out there that humanity is just encountering as we take our first steps amongst the stars." This Miranda seemed passionate about the cause-she was leaning forward unconsciously. _The stars? What the heck?_

"Our leader, The Illusive Man, believes in seizing every advantage in order to advance our people. We've been researching advanced medical technology to help cure diseases and heal, we've developed new technology to elevate our quality of life and the freedom of humanity. Abilities have recently started surfacing in humanity in response to their exposure to new elements, so we try to provide guidance and control for those individuals so they don't hurt anybody-in short, we try to look out for humanity's best interests. But as you see, some of the investigations we undertake are dangerous, so we also have a small military force to help us as we seek out new technology and information to help us." She smiled prettily. Women were definitely dangerous-if only because of the _smile_.

"As for your second question, one of our ships-vehicles that take us through space-picked up a large energy signal coming from your planet. Naturally, we investigated the signal which led us to you." With that she sat back, back straight, and observed his reactions. Naruto felt that so far, she was telling the truth. Or a version of it anyway. But why just hand him information? Naruto was quiet for a beat before he responded. "Did you find anybody else on the planet? Anybody besides me?"

"No, but some entity resembling a monstrous tree attacked our men and probably would have killed you if we hadn't gotten you out of there. Do you know what it was?" Naruto had an idea. But there was no way he was telling a shadowy organization that there was a god-like entity roaming around his planet trying to piece itself back together...or that it was very much looking to kill Naruto and absorb him. That just seemed stupid. So he lied.

"No idea, I was asleep before things got...bad."

Kurama murmured in what felt like Naruto's ear.

_Naruto, I know you feel alone and there is no point, but there is still one thing left; we can still achieve the Sage's dream of peace! You can rebuild once we eliminate the Shinju. _

You can rebuild.

It was definitely an attractive idea; he was floating without a purpose...he only had Kurama for company. So what would he _do_? He was a shinobi without a purpose. Destruction and combat was all he knew...so could he learn to create too? Naruto honestly couldn't say. No other time had he felt the weight of his inexperience and youth than right now. It had always felt like he had all the answers...but now? Yes, he had a millenniums old chakra monster inside him who seemed to like him a little...enough to not kill him, but was that enough to continue on living this empty life without precious people to fill it? He didn't know. But he needed to find out.

_Later Kurama-we'll need some peace and quiet to figure all this out, okay?_

"Miranda, may I call you Miranda? I'd really like it if I could leave-" Miranda interrupted him. "I'm afraid we still have more questions for you...and our doctors would really love it if you would let them run some tests on you. Harmless stuff. You really are the first of your kind we've met...and the fact that you seem human, yet you don't originate on Earth? Fascinating. Won't you stay?"

Naruto had a bad feeling that unless he played along, he'd find himself as lab rat prisoner, instead of a guest handled with kid gloves. But unluckily for them, he was having a really bad day. First he woke up pretty much naked on a gurney in the middle of a cold room, then he found out he was a thousand years older than he should be, all of his people are probably dead-his brother was definitely dead, his mother, his father...all of his cousins. On top of that, he'd had the Nine-tailed fox shoved into his body against his will (and he was about eight years too old for it)-so it hurt like a rusty kunai shoved in his eye socket (again)-and this Cerberus wanted to probably do some freaky crap to his body. Nuhuh, no way, no freaky crap was being done today!

Naruto smiled at Miranda. It was not a nice smile.

"I'm afraid that I've been having somewhat of an off-day today. Usually I'm really nice, but I have to say, as pretty as you are-" The Cerberus interrogator didn't react at all. "-I really have to decline your super-nice offer. I just don't feel like answering any more questions. I'd really like to leave." Tension grew in the room, spreading like fog. His right eye, generously gifted by Kurama, flickered as Naruto activated his Rinnegan. The wisps overlayed on to his vision and suddenly everything was _wrong._ He could tell that his intuition was right. Dishonesty, violent intention; it was everywhere. Miranda had dishonesty painted all over her-he could see blues and reds, usually indicating lying, anger, and a bit of sadness. He could see the alarm he'd generated in the three soldiers guarding the room, and in Miranda as she took in the suddenly active doujutsu. She stood up, carefully nonchalant. Energy was whirling about in time with her heartbeat. A faster heartbeat than before.

Naruto did the same, sliding off the gurney to stand, barefoot, on the solid metal floor. _Fuck that's cold!_ He felt ridiculous trying to be intimidating as a raggedy youth in a hospital robe, but whatever. Miranda spoke, the calm of her words betrayed by the wisps of energy Naruto could see. They told an entirely different story.

"Give me a few minutes to see what we can do for you, the least we can do is give you a ride back to your planet. I'll be with you shortly." As the Cerberus interrogator left, he saw her subtly nod to his escort.

Naruto shifted positions and calmed himself and his racing heart. Those intimidating body guards burst into motion as soon as he finished the first mediation.

Already in the first taijutsu Position, he channelled chakra to his legs and left faint indents in the ground as he leapt forward towards his guards. A strange energy washed over his body, the same energy from back in Konoha, and it tried to trap him-it almost caught him completely. But with his bloodline active, the wisps told him it was simply physical energy in a different configuration trying to compress his body and freeze him in place.

Kurama, in response to Naruto's unspoken desire, flooded his body with one-tail worth of his chakra and the physical energy holding him broke. Snapped like a rubber band. The change came over Naruto in an instance.

A veil of red chakra bubbled up and covered him, his eyes slitted and he felt his nails push into his palms. The world grew hazy with red and he struggled to control the rage and hate that pushed at the edges of his control. But no practitioner of his brand of taijutsu would ever make the mistake of losing control completely, even under the influence.

Naruto channeled wind like he always did around his hands. He sprinted towards his assailants, ducked low, and slid forward on his knees, under the swing of the first guards blade. His hand, covered in bijuu chakra, carved upwards like a razor. Hot, red energy cut through the first soldier like a hot knife through butter; splitting the armor, ribs, then spine, and splattering blood in a beautiful glittering arc. It hit the window and left streaks as it slid down.

Naruto was in motion again, whipping around, faster than the second guard could react. The arc of the blood in the air obscured where Naruto's hand was as he rotated like a top and jammed his hand, still covered in the rotating winds of his favorite-if crude-shape manipulation, into the armored chest of the second guard.

It was over in a minute.

He pulled and shook the dead guard off his arm, the thing slumped to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.

The third guard had disappeared through the door and sealed it shut.

No matter.

Cerberus' Most Valuable Subject strode forward towards the metal door, stepping over the bloody halves of the first soldier. The smell was atrocious, open intestine was not pleasing to the nose. Idly, he noted that small lights and wires were interspersed in the fleshy entrails of the guard. Did they do something to their soldiers? The guards were as fast as an upper-level genin-did the machines have something to do with that? Alarms were blaring now as he moved on from the bodies and faced the door. The metal contraption was flanked on one side by a small keypad. Naruto was not totally unfamiliar with technology as Konoha had started to important more advanced things from Kumo, Spring, and Ame, but this was something he'd never seen before. Was it a lock of some sort?  
Damn. He wondered if it ran off of electricity like the technology back home. If that was the case…maybe a lightning technique would do something? He figured it was worth a go. But he didn't get a chance to see.

The physical energy, a nuisance before, was now a raging monster-it had gotten stronger. Far stronger. Naruto froze in place against his will. He struggled mightily. Kurama growled and fed him another tail's worth of energy, but it didn't seem to make a difference. It was at least six times stronger than before. Kurama couldn't risk Naruto losing control right now...or killing himself with bijuu chakra he couldn't handle, so they were forced to concede. This was bad.

The door opened and soldiers poured passed him all carrying those box weapons. All of them pointed at him. The pretty interrogator was glowing blue as she stepped towards him, six others in bodysuits were behind her all glowing with the same haze. It wasn't hard to surmise they were the reason he was held in place. That backstabbing piece of shit Miranda held a collar of sorts in one hand with a little box on it. She stepped forward and seemed to radiate disappointment. Fuck her.

"Odin, if only you'd cooperated we could have avoided all of this unpleasantness. But it seems you are young, stupid, _and_ dangerous. That is a combination we can not have wandering around the galaxy unsupervised. I'm sure you'll understand that we're only doing this to protect ourselves. You've already killed two of our men who were just doing their jobs. Luckily for you, the leader of Cerberus is a lenient man." She paused here and noted his frozen snarl, the elongated canines, and fiery red aura.

"Impressive."

It seemed she really was impressed. Naruto hoped she choked. Miranda continued unruffled, stepping forward and placing the collar around his neck as she spoke.

"The Illusive Man wants to offer you a deal in exchange for your freedom. I strongly recommend you take the deal." With a sharp click the collar locked in place. The metal was cool against his neck. "This collar is rigged with both an incendiary explosive that will sever your head and probably vaporize you from the neck up and a tazer. It can be pressed at any time. Do you understand?" Cold sweat broke out on Naruto's forehead as he double-checked with Kurama.

_You can't...regrow a head can you? _

_Don't be a fucking idiot, of course not. I'm good but not _that_ good. _

Well, it was worth a shot.

Miranda's arm glowed orange as what looked like a computer keyboard appeared, floating above her arm. "I will release the Stasis field and I assure you that if you make any violent moves, you will regret it. Is that clear?" All he could do was blink to acknowledge what she said. He didn't have any choice. The field fell away and he could move again. Naruto, ringed with soldiers, returned to his previous position in the center of the room...cell. Two guards broke away and began removing the bodies, leaving a trail of blood behind them. Naruto kept his attention on Miranda the whole time. Her and the object of his potential demise.

A blue, wavering image of a person appeared in the middle of the room and Naruto got his first good look at the leader of Cerberus.

Appearing middle-aged, the man was dressed in a very nice suit-a definite contrast to the paramilitary feel of the rest of his organization. A lit cigarette was between his teeth and he was staring directly at Naruto in a way that he didn't like. One half part calculated disinterest, another half greedy glee. Now he knew what it was like to be an Aburame bug pinned to corkboard for study. In short, Naruto was very, very worried. With this kind of interest, it would be hard to escape. How did you escape a facility in the military of freakin' space anyway (whatever freakin' space was)? He still found it mind-blowing that they were in the heavens...

His mind snapped back to the present as the man had stopped puffing on his cigarette.

"Mr. No-name. A true pleasure to meet you. I wish I could say it was under better circumstances, considering you killed two of my men." What? They were the ones that captured and then _attacked _him! Naruto opened his mouth and Miranda glared at him. But he overrode her.

"Where I come from, you don't capture people, imprison them, interrogate them, then deny their polite request to leave, then _attack them when they try to leave, _and then proceed to make them feel like it's all a big, friendly misunderstanding!" Naruto could feel himself channeling Obito's foulmouth. "You know what? Fuck you. How about that?" Naruto glared at the hologram. The Illusive Man had the balls to smile. Smile! Naruto wanted to rip it off his face.

"Well, you aren't really my type...but I digress." The impeccably dressed, impeccably composed leader of this band of assholes continued smoking. "You are in luck. See, you have a lot of things I want. What I _want_ is to study you. To see if we can replicate what you can do. We'd like to poke you, and prod you, and study you to unlock all your secrets. In turn, we might help you figure out what happened to your people-we can make you stronger, faster, and better too. We can give you everything you've ever wanted." The man blew smoke that disappeared outside the hologram's range. His smile seemed painted on. Naruto had known smooth talkers (his father being one of them) and the pleasing voice of the Cerberus leader only added to the effect he was trying to generate. Too bad that ship had already sailed. He didn't need the tell-tale energy of the wisps to tell him this guy was Bad with capital letters.

"The only thing I want in return...is cooperation. After we are done getting what we need, we'll let you go. Hell, you know what? I'll offer you a job-I'll pay you to help our scientists figure out what they need to know. After that, I'll bend every resource I have-which is considerable, between you and me, to the task of helping you in whatever way I can. What do you say? Is it still a, "Fuck You?"

The hologram leaned close. "You don't have a ship, you don't have any idea where your planet is, and to top it off, you don't know anything about this time, technology, who is who or what is going on in the galaxy. You are out of your depth and you know it. The universe is not a friendly place and humans-in whatever form-must help each other."

_Naruto...he's right. I hate to say this, but we are in a very unfortunate position. I say we take his offer and get revenge later. You aren't in a position to bargain_.

And Kurama was right, as much as he hated to admit it. He was just a small leaf caught in a hurricane. Naruto needed to ride it out and bide his time.

This weakness was temporary, he promised himself. His lessons in shinobi tactics came back; _control what you can, plan for what you cannot. Strike where the opponent is weakest. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut at that weakness until victory is achieved. _

Naruto would wait. He would wait and find the weakness in Cerberus. Then he would strike. But first things first, he needed to appear as though he completely succumbed. The rinnegan deactivated and the wisps disappeared. He slumped as much as he dared.

"Fine. What do I have to do?"

The leader didn't really seem as pleased as his smile suggested. He must be used to getting his way. Naruto would be sure to wipe that complacent smile off his face personally. "Well, I sincerely appreciate your understanding. As for you _doing _anything...actually, its easy. Our scientists are going to do most of the work. You just have to relax."

A mechanical whirring sound preceded a needle sticking itself in his neck. What the..?

"We're testing a new drug on you, among others-its called omega enkaphalin. Supposedly it suppresses the ability to use biotics. My technicians are eager to see if it works on you and your energy."

Blackness grabbed the edges of his vision and closed in towards the center as he pitched forwards. Kurama's control over his energy and Naruto's wavered and collapsed. Both were scrambling to channel something...anything. It wouldn't work. Naruto heard them speaking once more before his head met the metal floor. He heard a roaring in the back of his head-Kurama?  
"Agent Lawson, we have an opportunity here. I'm giving you an unlimited budget. Get everything you can out of him-just don't kill him. You have free reign here. Don't disappoint me." The murmured reply was lost to Naruto as he hit.

Pain then darkness.

Every single time Naruto half woke, he heard scrambling from the technicians. Each time, he fought the drug as hard as he could. Snippets of conversation broke in on his hazy mind.

"Amazing. That was the largest dose we've ever…"

"...progress to Phase II. Miranda wants to use eezo…"

"Are you sure?...no nodules...might kill him."

Naruto swam in an out of consciousness. He'd made the mistake of looking up and seeing his skin peeled back from his body, like an open exhibit. His insides glistened. He could actually _see his chakra pathways. Oh god. _They were _doing something to his body. Oh god, oh god. _He should have been used to the pain by now, but _it was worse than dying_. Drilling, stapling, he was peeled back like an onion. It was a banquet of new and interesting flavors of pain. Once they'd discovered how fast he could heal, it got worse. Constant.

Screaming did no good. His voice box wore out and he stopped being audible. Nerves were on fire, as if they were burrowing in his skin, like threads of steel being pushed through his muscles and veins. What were they looking for? _What were they doing? _

"...remarkable healing! If we could give this to our soldiers…"

"...an advantage unlike any other. Dark energy manipulation….implants?"

"Agreed. Run the idea by Agent Lawson…"

Flashes of white lab coats and shiny scalpels blurred in his memory. Naruto couldn't tell if he was awake or not. An alarm broke through on one particularly painful spurt of consciousness. He was getting better at fighting the drug, but he couldn't utilize his chakra at all. His chakra felt sluggish anyway. He couldn't activate his eye or move anything beyond a finger. Kurama had been screaming like him for most of this...what was happening to him. Now he was ominously silent.

Naruto could feel a strange oily energy mixing with his chakra. It swirled around the Gate of Life, somewhere around his navel. He could feel it all over him, disrupting, changing it.

The alarm brought with it a red glow from the lights and strange glittering glass floating in the air that turned the white room into a kaleidoscope of refracted colors.

"...eezo levels beyond toxic. Should we use this much?" The strange, bulky suits the torturers were in turned the glittering flakes, like snow, into a horror show with faceless masks and heavy breathing. Pain and more pain. He felt his skin bubbling where this, 'eezo' touched him and his very insides turned to jelly. The bubbles warped his skin and Kurama, out as he was, healed him anyway.

Naruto blacked out.

It felt like forever later that he woke up again, well, half woke to the same situation.

The gas in the room brought unimaginable pain. His lungs were on fire. Over and over again. Damaged then repaired.

"...nodule conversion rate is astounding…"

Damaged then repaired.

"...biotic resonance is stable and in line with a regular subject. Cancer cells are converting."

Healed and hurt.

"...similar to Subject Zero post-op. We're done here."

It felt like he was back in the statue for another thousand years. But the haze slowly cleared. A finger moved, then a hand, then an arm.

His torturers last words to him were, "Lawson wants him secured for transport. Teltin has been overhauled and we're going to be moving him there. Dr. Angersol has a better grasp on biomolecular DNA modification and sequencing...especially in reference to biotics anyway." Another voice spoke, "True, but both Subject Zero and Odin? Is that safe?"

"Construction began on the new safety measures months ago, before we even knew we'd be working on him. It's totally secure."

_A month?_

"I highly doubt we have reason to worry..."

But a massive influx of omega put him back under and he knew no more.

* * *

**_Authors Note:_** Hey everybody! I hope this chapter answers some questions and raises some new ones. It seems like people were not understanding the intent of the first chapter...which is confusing because it is pretty straightforward; how can you change things in the world of Naruto without first showing the genesis of the changes? How can I establish Naruto's destiny without altering things in a big way? The jumps, as annoying as some of you thought they were, serve a vital purpose for the plot and development.

As for OC's? Guess what? It's my story and if I need them, they will be created. I do a decent job of creating well-rounded OC's so...as always...if you don't like it, don't read.

This will be an epic, three-part series and I intend to flesh it all out as best I can. There will be other characters necessary to plot progression. Tough.

I happen to love Mass Effect and Naruto, so this is a baby of mine that I have big plans for; you, dear readers, are just getting to enjoy the fruits of a labor that I do for myself.

Anyway, Cerberus is here...and they are big assholes. But would any other organization do things differently? What do you think?

As always, read, comment, review! Thanks guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Arte


	3. Chapter 2: The Fires of the Forge of Hel

Authors Note: Hey everyone! It's Arte here. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. I'd like to point out a few things before we start that some people may not have considered while reading stories. The first is that any character who talks is subject to biases like in real life. They have perspectives and make conclusions based on the knowledge they have at their fingertips; however, this does NOT make what they say true, or the actual explanation. I am taking my understanding of chakra and biotics in a direction that makes sense to me. Here we see a little bit of Naruto's embellished explanation-but as I hate infodumps more than anything in this world, I will keep it short and plot-important. If you care to debate biotics and chakra with me I'd be more than happy. I've already done with this with more than one reviewer and afterwards, they seem to have understood where I was coming from-which is nice. I think what I'm doing makes sense if explained the right way.

We'll never really have a canon answer will we?

Second, this story is epic in length and epic in scope. Naruto is only martially powerful now. He is trained; fast and strong. But he cannot use really any techniques besides fuuin. He will need much, much more if he is to combat the incredibly powerful forces arrayed against him. This will be a gradual journey of self-discovery, of battle and romance, and eventually a suitable exploration of the true importance our choices have in our lives. :)

Anyway, without further ado; the 3rd chapter of the first book in Memoirs of an N7; the Fires in the Forge of Hell!

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 2: Fires in the Forge of Hell

"_Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices."_

-Alfred A. Montapert

_CE 2075, The Phoenix Nest, (formerly Teltin Facility), Pragia_

NARUTO

Naruto, codenamed Odin, jerked awake and immediately regretted being conscious; even though the nightmares had come back. That movement ignited all the wounds from his month of torture. He was sore; knots and cramps made themselves known as he shifted about. Naruto was completely drug-free for the first time in who knew how long and all of his nerves confirmed this-loudly. Fire coursed through his veins and cold sweat soaked his white uniform and ran down his scarred arms and chest and back as he shivered. On top of that, his eye itched and all the little scars itched too. Naruto imagined he'd be quite a sight, though it seemed Cerberus was a little freaked out by his bijuu eye and covered it with some soft cloth.

Finally, the pain died down to just a dull knife sliding through flesh and he felt the tiniest surge of healing energy coursing through his veins; tiny compared to the raging torrent that had been in him while he was battling Cerberus earlier. This time though, it was sluggish though, very sluggish. It had only been a short time that he'd had Kurama inside him, but he had gotten used to the added benefit of healing instantaneously. _Damn._ It was sloppy for any ninja to rely on any one tool. Training as a monk had taught him that the most important weapon was his mind; and right now, his was in shambles.

Naruto pulled himself up and sat with his legs crossed under him as he looked around, tiny pops sounding in his back and knees as he stretched.

It was a white room he found himself in. _Shocking_, he thought.

Cerberus clearly had a thing for white. It was odd, he'd have thought white was a bad choice-it showed the bloodstains too much. Perhaps they were trying to disguise the black heart at the core of their organization by using misdirection and bullshit tactics like this. Did they really think taking white as a prime color would fool anyone?

Well fuck that, and fuck this hellhole he found himself in.

The cell was maybe fifteen feet by fifteen, stark white, the panels all looked reinforced; no doubt to keep him in. The door, unlike any door he'd ever seen barring the one he'd attempted to leave through in his failed escape attempt, was also reinforced. His bed, if you could call the raised slab of metal in the center of the room that, was unadorned except for a thin strip of yellow and black color. Spotless though, the room was not. Little scraps of metal littered the floor as if someone had recently done construction and left the scraps behind.

Inspection done and pain successfully ignored (for the most part), Naruto conducted a more thorough pat down of himself. He ran a callused hand over his head and met no resistance. Tears prickled against his will at the edge of his eyes; it was just, he couldn't help it. His hair had been another reminder of what he'd left behind. A memory surfaced; his mom and dad had taken him and Izuna on weekly Ramen trips. They'd take their usual places at Ichiraku's; his mom and dad bracketing Izuna and him on the stools at the front of the place. Kushina would smile and say, "Best seats in the house, 'ttebayo!" and Minato would smile, smile like he was the happiest man in the entire world. But it was the red hair, long and lustrous that caught Naruto's eye as she threw her head back and laughed. They did a lot of laughing together...and it was that that he missed the most. Teasing his brother, then being teased in return; knowing without a shadow of a doubt that his parents could make everything better with a laugh, a smile, and a hug.

They were not here now. And now? Neither was the hair he'd shared with his mom, Nagato, and Karin...the last of the Uzumaki clan.

Now it was just him.

Naruto inhaled deeply and left the tears on his face. He wouldn't let Cerberus win here-even something like this, this psychological torture-he would not let them reduce him to nothing. He was not just another tool in their arsenal of weapons; he may be the sword now-and they holding the grip-but they'd soon see the other edge of the weapon.

When his hand came to the raised ridges on the back of his neck, above his collar, he encountered a raised object sticking out of his neck; panic gripped him. Through every session of torture, he knew they'd done things to him...stuck metal in him...but he never thought it would be this much. There was no mirror, no windows, and nothing to see what was sticking out of the back of his neck. So he started breathing in and out in regular intervals to calm himself. This panic was unproductive. He needed to start reasoning things out without making baseless assumptions like a true monk. So what did he know?

The Illusive Man had seemed to want Naruto on his side; indeed, he claimed he could make the ninja, 'better,' somehow. Is this what he meant? He'd seen the metal and lights inside the guards he'd killed...had they done that with him? Naruto didn't know. If they had...what else had they done? Stilling his breathing, Naruto effortlessly glided into a meditative state the Fire Temple monks used to practice internal chakra control and what he found left him speechless.

The mindscape is very different from the mental, and largely metaphorical, view of one's chakra pathway system. Kurama and he had always spoken in his mindscape and from there one could usually also glimpse the symbolic pipes that make up your chakra system. But now Naruto was strictly looking at his tenketsu, where the Gates were supposed to be, and the pathways that carried his normally blue chakra throughout his body.

A raging hurricane over a dark ocean replaced the normally bright and calm delta waters of his pathways; pure chaos reigned. His chakra system, something he'd been able to feel intimately ever since he was little, was a mess; wild, untamed, and not the calm ocean he'd always felt gliding through his veins. Small currents of something _else_ rode the waves and suffused him from multiple points throughout his body. He felt focal hardpoints of energy in his legs, arms, chest-even one behind his replacement eye. It threw everything off.

That didn't even count Kurama's energy.

Naruto knew that the actual sealing process that his brother had undergone had allowed the dangerous, _poisonous_ chakra of the tailed beast to mix properly with Izuna's own supplies-vastly multiplying and empowering it. Naruto had no such seal and no such protection other than vague hints that Nagato had said a Rinnegan-user-as descendants of the Sage (and Father of the Bijuu) enjoyed against the poisonous chakra. Fuck if Naruto knew what was really going on and why he wasn't a bubbling puddle of goo on the floor. Frankly, this whole mess freaked him out. Could he even channel chakra with this other stuff in the way?

His body seemed to be in a three-way war with itself. Naruto let out a sigh. _Of course just my luck. _But Namikazes-and especially Uzumaki's-never gave up. Rationality reasserted itself and he thought that maybe, he'd just have to assert his own control over whatever Cerberus had done and whatever the hell this new energy was...plus Kurama. Speaking of Kurama, where the hell was the fox?

A clue, he thought, might be in the raging volcanic torrent that made up the red bijuu chakra in his system. Naruto was looking _right at it_ and it seemed to be fighting the dark ocean that had suddenly taken up residence in his body and came from those nodes at varying points in his body. It didn't feel foreign, or like they didn't belong, but it felt a lot like...like the energy they used to briefly subdue him. Naruto's gritted his teeth and his eye flashed in the darkness remembering how he had to let them take him-Kurama couldn't flood him with more without doing more harm than good...and they foolishly had thought Cerberus wouldn't dare kill him.

Well they were right...but apparently there were worse things than death.

Kurama, it seemed, was busy-but totally unresponsive? That was hard to believe. Maybe it had something to do with that drug that seemed to suppress chakra...he couldn't imagine how Kurama handled that. Kurama WAS chakra. Now Naruto was worried. The fox, as much of a pain in the ass he was and no matter how much they got on each others nerves, was the only thing he had left from his old life. He couldn't let him go without a fight. Naruto vowed he'd keep trying to get in contact with the bijuu; however, for now, he needed to know what he could and couldn't do with this _mess_ he currently called his body.

The door opening killed all hopes of being left alone though.

Where before his anger was coals, slow burning and long lasting, they flamed into an inferno on seeing his Cerberus captors-and Miranda. Naruto had never felt anything quite like the rage that gripped him on seeing her-seeing that smug, perfect face and that self-satisfied smirk. He wanted to claw it off, flay her alive, tear her to pieces and watch her _bleed out_. A growl emerged from his throat, lower than he'd ever heard himself before. It took the group that fanned out through the doorway by surprise, his growl very audible in the small room. The soldiers, four of them and unarmored as far as he could see (except for some orange stuff floating around them), cautiously spread out in a semicircle, batons sparking with tiny jumping lightning bolts gripped in their hands. The fucking welcoming committee was here, no doubt to sway him with more bullshit. Naruto felt a sneer stretch across his face and pull at the cloth attached to his bad eye.

Miranda had eyes only for him and he for her. He didn't even notice when a scientist-one he wasn't familiar with-entered right on her heels. Naruto sat on the floor, back up against the metal table/bed thing. A calm pond formed in his mind and he lost himself in it, trying to banish the rage and hatred and let him think a little clearer. Normally it worked like a charm; however, he found that he really, really didn't want to be calm right now. He closed his eyes anyway in an attempt to shut them out; her damn voice penetrated anyway.

"Now that you are finally awake Odin, we'd like to give you a tour of the facility and brief you on your role here. Perhaps, if you are lucky, we can grab you some food as well. Would you like that?"

The collar burned at his throat. Not literally of course...but he was suddenly all too aware of the position he was now in. Kurama and he had massively underestimated the capabilities of Cerberus-the lengths they would go to and depths to which they would sink. Naruto hadn't even had a chance to go on a D-rank, let alone the type of mission that truly would have prepared him for this type of situation. Frankly, he was running by the book as far as it would take him...and he was afraid he'd soon have no idea how to handle all of these realities.

He was only thirteen after all. Or was it fourteen? Or was a thousand? He didn't know.

Naruto had been silent for a while and Miranda had waited cool, calm, and collected while he struggled with himself. How far could he go with this before he needed to take action; or worse, they made him do something horrible? Naruto didn't know, but he didn't want to find out. It was time to figure out how valuable he really was to them.  
Widening his eyes dramatically, Naruto finally spoke to the gathered group, "Is it my birthday already? Jeez, you guys are super nice you know that? Getting me my own room, these fancy clothes, a really expensive haircut-really, you shouldn't have. And now my very own facility all for me?_" _Naruto laughed long and just a little too loudly. Many eyes twitched opposite him. _Bingo. _Looks like he was channeling Uncle Obito more and more; and even better, it seemed to be working.

Bouncing to his feet, and concealing the flash of white-hot pain in his joints, he brushed the non-existent dust off his pristine white jumpsuit and straightened, smiling as obnoxiously as he could at Miranda. "I guess I can make time to go on this tour with you, lead the way-we don't have all day, right?"

Miranda simply smiled as she turned around gestured at the soldiers. Naruto was swept up and sandwiched between two lines of the soldiers in orange armor. The scientist, who looked exactly like what you'd expect a mad scientist to look like, was trailing after Naruto like a puppy-clearly making no bones about the fact he was takes notes and observing him. It was like…like having Izuna's fangirls. Just creepy. But he wouldn't mistake the harmless-looking scientist for anything other than a true member of Cerberus-and that meant he couldn't be trusted.

It was a long walk from Naruto's solitary cell to the testing area that Miranda had mentioned as they'd stepped out. As the small troop walked, Naruto memorized what he could of the layout of the facility (like any well-trained ninja). Much of it was open and airy, with the massive ceilings made up entirely of glass, framed by white metallic struts, that showed a harsh climate; one completely encased in jungle. The plants, he saw, looked hungry; they quested and moved over the glass. It was just another reminder that everything in this new world had teeth. Miranda led them on a circuitous route, passing laboratory after laboratory; some filled with creatures he'd never seen before and some that looked disturbingly human. On one slab was a blue-skinned humanoid creature flayed open, guts exposed. Multiple scientists prodded at things inside its-her-body. Naruto flashed through his experiences with having his skin peeled back and shuddered, phantom pain shot through his chest and back. Yet another thing he laid at the feet of Cerberus.

The small party continued, passing a small corridor that led to a large hangar and another that opened into a plated glass room containing a lot of electronics and screens showing various parts of the facility. All in all the facility wasn't as big as Naruto had believed. They had only been walking for fifteen minutes though when Naruto entered the biggest room yet.

It was massive, at least three or four times bigger than the hangar they had passed, and ringed with raised platforms occupied by more of the orange-armored soldiers-only these had long box-weapons he understood to be, 'guns'. Rifles? He'd been hit with a round from one of those and it had _hurt_. Not as much as a kunai to the eye, but it hurt nonetheless. See, he was beginning to have a scale in which to measure the variety of pain he was exposed too.

How delightful.

Miranda had dismissed the soldiers, presumably back to whatever they were doing before she called for them, and it had left the scientist, the Cerberus bitch, and their precious, 'Odin.' The three of them stood at the edge of the raised platform looking out over the arena-it looked a bit like the stadium back in Konoha. Instead of regular earth as the ground in the stadium though, this was (again) white metal broken up here or there by large boxes of different sizes, creating a variety of dreary obstacles and terrain. The boxes only occupied the outskirts, however. A big, wide open circle made up the center of the arena. Naruto noticed that the holding pens they'd passed early had windows into the arena. He saw other humans, test subjects he guessed, hanging out in there. Some were squatting, some were sleeping, others were talking in small groups. One small figure was watching him, he'd noticed it-whoever-eyeing him earlier as they'd walked passed the cells.

Naruto couldn't make out who it was at the glass; he couldn't even tell whether they were male or female. He turned back as Miranda had been talking. "...some expectations we have placed upon you, correct? You remember what you agreed to before you underwent your enhancements?" Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Enhancements? They called that _helping? _Naruto stared at Miranda, he couldn't help it. Cerberus actually believed they were helping him by putting those wires and machines and other foreign energy in his body. Naruto almost choked on the irony.

The laugh that came out of him was dark and choked with anger.

The laugh cut off as fast as it had come.

He thought fast; if they knew he couldn't produce his abilities as he once had-what would they do? Would they try to kill him? They might actually succeed and despite how bleak his life seemed at the moment, he didn't _really _want to die. This was bad. He needed to regain some control over himself as soon as possible or else he'd be in a world of trouble. Not only that, but he needed his abilities in order to get rid of his collar.

This was vital. At no point could he let them figure out they wrecked his abilities.

So Naruto smiled at Miranda and lied through his teeth. "Of course I remember the bargain. It remains to be seen though whether the Illusive Man delivered on his promise; I see no enhancements. Instead, I spent a month in unimaginable agony for no real purpose other than, it seems, your amusement." Agent Lawson crooked an eyebrow at him as if surprised, "You really haven't felt any difference?" At this, Naruto thought carefully. What was different?

He flexed his hands, wiggled his toes, and tried to channel chakra into his limbs like he normally would. The surging of his chakra meshing with the foreign energy fizzled and didn't do quite what he wanted; though something _did _happen. A faint haze of dark purple engulfed him and lifted off his skin, hovering like his chakra cloak. His Rinnegan tingled like it had been asleep and only now had awakened. Miranda's smirk confirmed what he was feeling; he felt like he was holding one-tail worth of bijuu chakra-powerful and wild-but it was, at least marginally, _under his control_. He felt alive, confident; like he could punch a hole through a steel wall.

Naruto couldn't help it-he smiled. "What else did you do to me?"

It was not Miranda that responded to the question, but rather the mad scientist who introduced himself with a wide smile as Dr. Angersol. "Quite! It is exciting isn't it? Your smile tells me you feel the same as we- THIS is what Cerberus is all about-advancing humanity one step at a time. We hope, by understanding what it is exactly that you do and what energy you manipulate, that we can advance humanity towards the next stage of our evolution! Your healing ability alone will extend life by leaps and bounds." The smile covering Dr. Angersol was not one Naruto associated with evil; but it was. It spoke of being willing to do anything for the greater good. Yes, this _was _exciting...but...positive gains for the next generations, it said, was worth any amount of suffering and evil. It was terrifying in its surety and any happiness Naruto felt from gaining more power was snuffed out as quickly as it arrived.

"The early stages of the Phoenix Program, designed to enhance our soldiers durability, was applied sparingly. Spidersilk was threaded throughout your muscles and we inserted the latest in biotic amplifiers; of course, we had to _create_ biotic nodules inside you...I'm afraid that was probably the most painful bit, hmm?"

Naruto remembered. The gas that reflected light like a rainbow making his flesh bubble and malform-distort and reform in a painful cycle of destruction and regeneration. It was the single most painful thing he had ever experienced. The grimace on his face must have confirmed it for the good doctor.

"We learned a great deal about what _exactly_ it takes to create nodules in a non-biotic individual through you-this is _huge _breakthrough with powerful military implications. We now know exactly what it takes to-" Miranda cut off his excitement with a hand motion. Clearly Miranda was the more level-headed of the two...it was good information to know. The doctor almost spilled potential secrets-and gave away more than he kept. He knew now they _needed_ Naruto; it wasn't a bullshit pledge from the Illusive Man. They needed to know exactly what he could do so they could recreate it, and for however long that was, he'd be safe.

So far they hadn't succeeded in understanding really anything about him. But it probably wouldn't be as far off as he would hope and Naruto didn't know what they were really capable of in terms of reproduction. So he needed to stall them while he figured out; how to operate his wild new chakra hybrid, what the hell Kurama was doing, how to get this kami-forsaken collar off, and where the hell he was supposed to go next. From there, he'd rip this facility apart and escape to wherever Cerberus was _not._

So, back to stalling. He needed to demonstrate something for Cerberus; this was the only way he'd gain the space and time to figure a way off of this strange planet and out of their clutches. The plan was straightforward, but assumed a lot of things; one, that he could overpower the guards (looking less likely without his techniques or some semblance of true control over his power), two that he could find a ship like the one that brought him here to use, three that he could figure out how to use it, and four that this fucking organization wouldn't discover his plans before he could act. A tall order for a thirteen going on fourteen ninja that had just been tortured extensively…

Miranda's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Odin, we'd like you to fulfill your side of this bargain. Our leader gave you what he had promised you-now we'd like for you to cooperate and demonstrate more of your powers." She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow as if it was a perfectly acceptable request. Like she would be disappointed in him if he didn't hold up his end of the bargain; as if he was letting a good friend down. What horseshit. But Naruto smiled anyway-he could use this to his advantage. He'd play coy and hard to get like the characters from Lord Chiriku's orange-back novels.

"I don't really feel like it honestly...I'm pretty tired. Where can I get some food around here?"

A short eyebrow twitch is all Naruto received before Dr. Angersol pronounced this an excellent idea as their subject needed sustenance to replenish his energy.

Naruto ultimately held out for another half an hour before Miranda became somewhat more intractable. She refused to do anything further until Naruto had given them more data in the form of demonstrations; so he decided to throw them a bit of a bone.

Settling down in the benches alongside the walls of the arena, he picked up a lecturing tone as he recalled all he had learned about chakra theory from his classes.

"Where I come from, everyone is able to utilize a form of energy we call Chakra." Dr. Angersol had a small datapad out and was typing furiously. Miranda looked mildly intrigued as she settled against a wall and crossed her arms. "We are warriors of the shadows; ninja who control powers you cannot hope to powers are based on Chakra...we are taught as children that chakra has two components and comes from within ourselves, emanating from our chakra pathway system of which there are 365 tenketsu, or emanation points. This system is a bit like the veins and arteries in our bodies." _If I can make myself seem more powerful than I am, maybe they'll be a bit more wary...Kurama would be laughing if he could hear how much I'm laying it on…_

"Chakra is composed, like I said, of two parts; the spiritual part, or the Yang, which gives life to the form of the energy. The Yin, or physical chakra, is simply energy produced from our bodies which gives form to life energy. My techniques, or powers, are composed of different formulations of both of these." The two employees of Cerberus looked thoughtful; Miranda tried very hard to have a completely blank face while Dr. Angersol's gray hair bounced around as he seemed to become more and more excited. Naruto composed himself, focusing again on his breathing and dismissing his stress, as he continued, "What you have done to me has simply given me more energy to work with-a different kind of energy that nevertheless is very similar in base composition to the physical energy produced by chakra system. In fact, the only difference really is that with my spiritual components, I can breath a kind of life into the technique, utilizing the energy to create amazing things-I can walk on water, heal people from the brink of death, create a dragon made entirely of fire or ice, and I can control a person utterly."

He did his best to make his face look pleasant, like he was just talking about the weather. Naruto didn't think he succeeded based on the wary looks the soldiers closeby, who overheard, were giving him. Naruto readjusted on his seat, bringing his legs up under him and straightening his back. Exhaustion swept through him and he had to deliberately focus on straightening himself up as best he could. At no point did letting himself look weak benefit him. These people only responded to power. Agent Lawson straightened, unfolding her arms.

"Subject Odin, per our agreement, The Illusive Man, Dr. Angersol, and I agree that we must see what you can do. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure your cooperation." Her smile was not pleasant. "That includes repeat rounds of...violent negotiation. Will you show us what you can do or do we have to do this the hard way?" Naruto swallowed, suppressing panic. _Think! Think baka! _STALL.

"I need to rest first." The Cerberus Operative's face didn't change that much, but Naruto suddenly felt like he was next to a high-energy powerline. The air crackled silently with danger. So he spoke quickly, whipping his hands up in the air in a warding gesture, "Your organization may have thought they were doing me a favor, but really, you just drained all my energy-torture will do that to you." He finished with a sardonic grin to show them all the fake good will he had. "Can I rest and show you in the morning?" The salacious wink he added at the end probably didn't do him any favors.

Thankfully, the two saw the sense in this suggestion. What was one more day? But from the way Naruto got swept up by the guards and marched in the rather wrong direction of his cell, he knew that they had something else in mind than the solitary confinement he'd been hoping for. In fact, they were heading down into the arena. The soldiers, batons sparking ominously, fell into phalanx formation; in front and in back, as they marched him down the stairs. Miranda and Angersol were watching him with glittering eyes, the eyes of greed. Naruto had seen the same type of look on his Uncle Jiraiya's former teammate, Orochimaru. Shuddering, Naruto faced forward and tried to figure out where they were going.

Naruto took in the makeshift battlefield and noticed they were headed to the glass pens filled with subjects. From where the glass ceiling stretched across the battlefield, it hit a strut and sharply sloped downwards to the low ceiling of the pens, giving everyone a large view of the jungle outside. A hundred eyes stared at him and the soldiers as they approached. A mixture of emotions were obvious; from fear to anger to complete crushing despair. It made Naruto uncomfortable.

They reminded him of himself.

Cuts on wrists, skittering fearful movement, flinching actions; the faces and actions of the prisoners told a story more horrifying than anything Naruto had experienced thus far. They were children, really. Horribly mutilated children. Uniform in clothing, in the machines in their heads, in their number attached to their blood-stained jumpsuits. Naruto was the only one with a designation. He wondered what that meant.

Some of the kids were massive, one kid stood out, at least three feet above the tallest of them; which was Naruto himself. Some looked insane, gibbering to themselves in corners as the soldiers unlocked the door and stepped through; batons activating as they lashed out at the ones brave enough-or suicidal enough- to approach the doorway. One screamed and tried to bite through the orange armor. It sparked and discharged visibly into the child maybe four years younger than Naruto himself. The kid flew and collapsed in what looked like some sort of seizure.

His body smoked and didn't move. Nobody paid it any attention. Naruto swallowed, hard.

_Never thought I'd say this… but I wish Kurama would WAKE THE FUCK UP!_ The last part he screamed in his head as loud as he could. Nothing.

The Cerberus Subject was pushed forward from behind roughly and the soldier spoke quickly, "Orders: you are to be here with the rest of the subjects, rest up and prepare for your test tomorrow." Not turning his back to the subjects he backed up and gestured to the rest of the operatives to retreat. The door closed and it echoed in his head.

Locked in, again. Fuck.

Naruto turned and gazed about him. Every single eye was on him. What must they think? He looked like one of the pirates he'd heard about in Water Country; broken, battered, and missing eyes. The sea of faces was unnerving. Then again, he'd probably been the most interesting thing that had happened in quite a while. What else did they have to distract them?

Putting on his best indifferent face, he turned to examine his dungeon. The term 'pen' didn't really accurately describe them. The whole thing was one long hallway occasionally broken by open doorways, always leading into another room. There were perhaps five of these open rooms. Essentially it was a series of large rooms connected by arched doorways. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to plot, always open for the guards to look through.

This was why they didn't want him in his cell; it was yet another tactic to dehumanize him. To show him those they'd already broken. He couldn't help it, he scoffed, the sound echoing in the open pen.

Break him? He'd break _them_.

Naruto assumed the most arrogant strut he could muster and strode through the press of bodies to an empty corner. No one gave him any trouble, but he felt several eyes on him. Ignoring them as best he could, he arrived at the corner, turned around, and sat with his back against the wall facing outwards. Several kids nearby gave him wary looks. Naruto glared back with his one visible eye. The kids whipped back to what they were doing. A smirk hovered on his lips as he turned back to settle against the wall, eyes closing.

But of course he couldn't get any sleep.

A loud commotion was brewing somewhere in front of him. Pushing, shoving, flesh hitting flesh, a scream; it all signified nothing good-most especially that he probably wouldn't get any real sleep with potential violent adolescents all around him. His eyes snapped out and he took in the scene.

A handful of teens, all dressed the same as Naruto himself, were backing some other teens into another room. But that room was blocked by older teens whose arms were crossed. It looked like bad news; some dumb shit that Naruto himself had experienced back in Konoha. He snorted to himself; his wasn't quite this bad though. Nobody picked on the Hokage's son for very long…but he could at least understand why. See, the rinnegan was both a blessing and a curse. A whole world that no one else could see was open to Naruto; one in which chakra and life itself revealed its secrets and true beauty. He had always been distracted and off in his own world...because he really was in another world. Naruto struggled with the knowledge this ability gave him; it made making friends hard too, or trusting them for that matter. He'd known when people were lying to him. Heartbeats raced faster and lyingwisps floated around their head. Naruto suspected it was simply a part of the spiritual side of life energy; our thoughts and beliefs truly did affect the world around us; and all of those thoughts and beliefs were open like a book. It made being a kid difficult. Kushina and Minato, who admittedly wasn't around much being the Hokage, tried their best, but it was difficult to change another child's mind about the strangeness of her son. Civilian kids called him a liar, a weirdo, a freak-what kind of eyes were _those_? Clan kids...well, they still thought he was strange; not because of his eyes, but because of what he could see-nobody wanted to think that there was more to chakra than they already knew.

Nagato believed him though, about everything. He claimed he could only see the chakra, but not the other stuff. Nagato had taught him about the elements and sub-elements too, which were very pretty when moulded-that went double for pure chakra. Pure chakra was gorgeous; his mom always told him the story about when he was younger, that he liked to float things to his hands when they were out of his reach. Or about the time he created bubbles as a baby from nothingness.

Being an outcast made things hard; but that didn't mean he didn't try to do right like his mom taught him and Izuna both. When he'd been younger and had loved running around the park; he'd run into some academy students fresh out of school who decided to try out their taijutsu on one of their smaller, slower classmates; Naruto couldn't help but see himself, the helpless nerd, in the young boy who was getting beaten-beaten far away from where the adults were. Frail as Naruto had been, he hadn't hesitated in jumping in...even though he got his ass handed to him. His hands bloody, a black plum sitting on his eye socket, clothes all in disarray and cradling his broken arm, he'd walked into the Namikaze house like a conqueror and Mount Saint Kushina had exploded. But when it was all over, his mother had been proud of him. Very proud. He could see the pridewisps coloring her face golden, though they did war with the angerwisps he saw as she looked over his injuries. He'd never forget what she said to him after that.

"Never let anyone scold you or make you feel ashamed for doing what you think is right. You can never go wrong when you trust your gut, yanno!" His mom's tic never came out unless she was passionate, so he decided there and then to just trust himself...even if got the shit kicked out of him sometimes.

So fast forward to see Exhibit A for what happened next; he tried to console himself that it was his gut doing the talking.

Cerberus' newest pet-project stopped right behind the cluster of inmates and tried his hardest to be diplomatic. He could see the targets now; a young girl, the giant he'd seen earlier, and a really tiny kid who resembled nothing so much as a rat. What an odd trio...

"Don't you guys have better shit to do than beat up on each other? We're all in this together aren't we? Plus, Cerberus is watching." Logical it may have seemed to him, these guys apparently didn't see what was wrong with turning on each other. Naruto folded his arms and waited as the leader, a particularly psychotic-looking teen-scarred almost as much as Naruto-whipped around to stare at whoever had clearly dared to speak to him. Spittle flew out of the mouth of the leader and a wild animal glint shone in his eyes.

The eyes of a killer.

Psycho, Naruto decided, would forever be his designation. All of Psycho's teeth were sharpened, like the fish native to the jungles of the Land of Birds, the piranha who supposedly were small but a swarm could eat a small whale in ten minutes. They were teeth made for the cutting and eating of flesh. Naruto sincerely hoped he just liked looking intimidating. Psycho, though he was skeletally-thin, he radiated authority. It was obvious the other prisoners, test subjects, what have you, responded to the inherent command of the teenager. They were terrified of him, so naturally they would do what he wanted; including beat up on some other helpless inmates.

It needed to stop.

Psycho spoke and his voice was a whisper that cut through all the small-talk in the pens. Dead silence reigned except for his words. "Dear me, dear me...the rudeness is appalling." Elongated arms ended in long, sharp nails and the kid looked more like a pale, hairless monkey than a human being. You know...if monkey's were crossed with a freakin' piranha. Naruto took a step back at Psycho's words and gave himself some space. Covering his arm with hand, he held his ground as the teen approached. A short, insane laugh and then, "My, my, my...if it isn't Subject Odin we've all heard _sooo_ much about. I'm all aflutter from meeting a _celebrity._" The teen held his arms out and indicated the sea of watching faces. Glee spread over his face as he said celebrity. The bitterness surprised Naruto. Shouldn't they have had better lives now that Cerberus was focused a bit more on Odin? Wouldn't that mean they were overlooked more often for torture or other crap like that…?

Psycho stopped a foot in front of him and leaned his upper torso in uncomfortably close. "I really am flattered you've spoken to me however…" His eyes flickered around as if sharing a secret. "...I'm busy exercising. We'll talk later." A bubbly giggle came out of Psycho's mouth and he caught the stink on his breath. Meat, rotting meat. Naruto recoiled, but watched out of the corner of his eye as the girl, a bruise swelling on her sharp cheekbones, scrambled up and hid behind the giant teen. Good. Naruto turned his attention back to the crazy kid who smelled of rotting meat, but the ass was advancing again on the teens who backed up against the glass. Everything happened quickly after that. Psycho sprang at them and the giant teen tried to prevent him from getting the girl, but the thugs-all older teens-held him and the rat-faced kid down. Naruto got a good look at the girl as Psycho dragged her by her arms; he'd never seen a more perfect female face in all of his, admittedly small, years of living. That perfection couldn't have been natural.

Naruto's body was in motion before consciously realizing it. He could see flickering, almost black fiery haze at the edges of his vision as he sped forward through the crowd ringing the fight, chambering and executing a textbook roundhouse kick to the rabid animals midsection that sent him careening into the kids guarding the entrance to the next room. They fell like leaves.

But before Naruto could bend and help the struggling girl up, a half-dozen or so attackers were on him from behind. He could feel them.

Time slowed alongside his breathing as his vision flickered with the black haze, his body rotating to face his attackers. Four years of grueling training kicked in as he dismissively brushed the first punch aside with his open palm. Life, he mused while grabbing the over-extended arm and executing a throw, was so much simpler when you were in combat. As Naruto released the first attacker to tumble face first into the glass, Naruto rotated again back to his starting point. From there, he flowed forward lashing out with a knife-hand strike to an assailant he passed on the way to the third attacker. The third assailant's face was in a bloodthirsty scowl as he watched the casual swipe Naruto used to incapacitate the second teen. But he didn't have much longer to scowl because Subject Odin grabbed the overly telegraphed strike moving like molasses towards his face. He caught the wrist and use it to throw himself up into a horizontal position and lock his legs around the thirds neck, twisting his body around in a corkscrew as his weight pulled Naruto and the burly teen to the ground. One crouched knee was locked around his neck and Naruto choked him into unconsciousness while striking like a snake at the next and final assailant who attempted to attack him while his friend was being choked out. _Dick._ Naruto let the unconscious kid drop as he threw himself backwards under the clumsy attempted closeline and flowed to his feet, immediately placing his foot on the last attackers spine and sending him crashing temple-first into the glass. Blood slid in a trail with the body as the unconscious teen slumped face first against the edges of the pen.

It was all over in a minute.

Naruto dropped to all fours in front of the girl who was silently crying. He could see the muscle working in her jaw as she grit her teeth. She looked pissed. "Hey, sorry about that, are you okay?" The girl just looked at him for a second, then jerked her head in what he thought was a nod. She hissed a bit as her arm was jostled; it looked like a nasty break to him. Lord knows he'd had enough of those while enduring the boulder training at the Temple of Fire. When the giant teen stepped forward and helped her up, Naruto tried to smile at the three of them-the rat-lookin' kid was poking at one of the kids who attacked Naruto. Fast footsteps made Naruto look around; it seemed the Psycho was coming back for seconds. Without thinking, Naruto quick-stepped to the glass. He leapt at the glass to use it as a springboard as he torqued his body back around in a lightning fast kick that smashed into the forward momentum of Psycho's face, the nasty crack of a broken neck echoing. He dropped like a rock and didn't move.

The silence in the Pens was deafening until a faint muttering spread through the crowd.

As he landed, it was very clear that nobody wanted Naruto there, that he was had stumbled into some type of prison culture that made life straightforward-if not easy. The girl he saved, as beautiful and perfect-looking as she was, clearly didn't appreciate him stepping in. Fine. The seven foot tall titan of a teen muttered a, "Thank you," as Naruto strode past them. Rat-boy just giggled nervously and didn't make eye-contact. Disgusted, Naruto pushed through the crowd muttering to himself about ungrateful brats. _I don't have time for this shit…_

Naruto took his previous spot in the corner. As he wedged himself in and made himself as comfortable as he could, he despaired of making it out of here when the people who should want to get out as much as he did couldn't even muster the energy to defend themselves against each other, let alone Cerberus. It was clear, he needed Kurama, that meant he needed to go into his mindscape, and THAT meant he needed to put a barrier to keep these assholes out while he willingly became defenseless. Fuuinjutsu, luckily, did not require a massive amount of control-simply the application and basic moulding of energy.

The new pariah of the Pens cobbled together the new fusion energy running through his body and smeared blood from a bit finger on a black seal on his left arm. The twisting fuuin-tattoo lit up and the energy sped through his hands as he slammed his hands down onto the ground; however, the barrier that arose and blocked him from the view of the others was almost black, not the deep blue he'd expected. Sparing it only a cursory glance, he dismissed it from his mind and centered himself, dropping into his mindscape, searching for the only thing he had left in this strange land.

The last Namikaze had been to his mindscape before, after he had woken from his slumber in the statue, and it had looked the same as it did now-barring a few cosmetic changes. With the massive iron walls, darkened with blasts of fire of a sort, characteristic of the greatest of the ninja monk temples, the Temple of Fire was gigantic. Soaring up and up past the point where his neck started to hurt a bit up close, the temple was breathtaking. The architecture was beautiful, sweeping, and majestic. But the colors were all wrong.

Before, when he'd been here and first met Kurama, the Temple of Fire was colored as its name sakes, with blue's and oranges, blistering whites and fiery reds. Now? Now it was the same colors as the bastardized chakra/dark energy hybrid that ran through his veins. The spiralling minarets were in sweeping lines of light-sucking black and bruise-purple. The Tengu statues, now all looking exactly like the freakin' demonic statue hidden away in the valley of the end, blindfolded and carrying scrolls in their mouth, were placed alongside the massive gates Naruto was approaching. The approach, intimidating before with the pock-marked fields of alien red stone, now had weapons littered amongst the pure white rock. The Temple rose like a dark citadel of crackling purple-black energy, the redness of Kurama's chakra swirled in a spitting, swirling storm above the temple. Beautiful purple lightning connected the molten storm of bijuu chakra to the pinnacle of the Temple. Naruto assumed the whole scene was metaphorical, as was the usual case with the mind-delving he'd been taught as a monk. This meant that the merger of Cerberus' _help_ and his own chakra had irrevocably changed his body and mind. It remained to be seen what the true impact would be. He had not really had any time to practice chakra control, or try any techniques, or even activate his rinnegan. It was really a dangerous place to be; experimenting without the help of anyone older and wiser.

Kurama would balance the odds a bit better for his survival. He needed his advice and wisdom, as much as it galled him to admit it. The fuzzbutt helped Izuna...so he trusted him at least that far.

The youngest Namikaze pushed against the gate and it swung open on silent hinges. The gates were perfectly balanced and it didn't take much to push it open. Inside, Naruto spied in the distance, between the many sigil-etched pillars, a veritable tornado of red chakra in the main entranceway-the largest place in the temple-and probably where Kurama was. The chakra was solid and bubbling, obscuring any view of the Kyuubi. Naruto proceeded forward, past the pillars and up the stairs, into the entranceway and stopped right in front of the swirling storm.

Naruto hesitated only for a second before he plunged inside.

Nothing momentous happened.

A colossal fox was snoozing on its side in the middle of the foyer. The nine tails of the greatest of the bijuu barely fit. Naruto couldn't help the crippling laughter that came over him; the self-proclaimed King of the Bijuu was on his side, paw twitching and a buzz-saw like sound emanating from said Kyuubi no Yoko was deafening. The newest container of the Nine-tails fell to his knees as laughter ripped out of him. "What an asshole!" Naruto thought, "you've...you've been sleeping this whole time?" He struggled up, one hand holding his side cramp. A big step took him close to the sleeping fox and he hauled back and kicked the King of the Bijuu right in the nose.

Naruto had never seen something so funny turn so horrifying so fast.

His life flashed before his eyes as a massive clawed paw swiped passed his face and cratered the marble floor inches in front of him. Oppressive, hatred-laced chakra came alive and killing intent flooded the area.

Kurama didn't see him. Naruto almost died because the bijuu _didn't see who had kicked him._ A snort escaped before he could help it. It wasn't funny, but the fact something so powerful had accidentally almost killed him because he was small was somewhat amusing. Two eyes the size of cars focused on him and Naruto had to swallow because he'd never seen Kurama this angry before.

"Hey Kurama, have a nice nap?"

Why, oh why, did he have to have a smart mouth?

The growl that escaped from Kurama could have doubled as an earthquake. Pillars shook and the ground trembled. Naruto took a step towards the nearest pillar and grabbed a handhold to keep himself upright. He scowled up at the chakra monster, but Kurama beat him to the punch. "How long have I been asleep?" Teeth glinted and Naruto swallowed again. "Whatever they gave you had a very, very different effect on me...soporific, if I'd have to wager. My chakra was sluggish and withdrew from your body somewhat...I am sorry I left you without aid." Naruto shrugged, a little uncomfortable. He knew Kurama made a promise to Izuna, but it was strange to see how deep the respect for his brother went in something so alien. Could Naruto ever live up to the ideal's his brother espoused? He really didn't know.

"S'okay Kurama...it wasn't a walk in the park, but I'm stronger than they could have anticipated. In fact, they've really only helped us both in the long run." Naruto thought back, "I got used to the drug pretty fast, they were astonished. I guess they've been using it on their own operatives and it takes them ten times as long to become immune." Here Naruto shrugged again; modest as always. His hands were animated as he spoke about the experience, "Frankly, I think it might have had long-term benefits. Lord Chiriku is always going on and on about controlling outcomes rather than events or some Monk-speak like that." Kurama shifted and settled back into his original position-minus being on his side drooling. Both of them conspicuously ignored the crater. The fox was silent for a beat, obviously contemplative, before he spoke. "What happened after you woke up?"

Naruto thought back, the events were hazy before he woke up at the new facility, but he tried his best to recall what happened. "Well, I woke up where we are now in a solitary cell. I don't know how long I'd been there, but those asshole operatives came for me almost immediately. A doctor, Dr. Angersol, bitch-face Miranda, and some soldier scrubs." Here he scowled. "They claimed the Illusive Man kept his side of the bargain and the whole, 'torture' bit was actually them _helping me. _Granted, I am way more badass than before, but the fact is that they didn't realize they'd made it impossible to use my techniques the way I could before. My control is utterly shot to hell. The energy they infused in me is wild-I have absolutely no idea what it is and it makes any technique I try, even simple ones, go out of control." Naruto's eyes flickered up to Kurama's and he arched an eyebrow, "I'm not even talking about the three-way battle royale happening in my body between my own poor chakra, _your _chakra, and this new crap." Disgust warred with frustration as he threw his hands up and started to pace. "I can't get this collar off if I can't use my techniques, if I can't get the collar off….we're _both_ stuck here doing whatever Cerberus wants." He stopped and spun to face the fox. "Any suggestions?"

Kurama smiled. It made cold chills run through Naruto's body.

"The Sage of Six Paths split the Shinju into nine components and created us, the bijuu...but do you know what he did with the body of the Shinju?" Bewildered, he could only shake his head. _What did this have to do with getting the collar off?_ "He sealed it in a demonic container, in the form of a statue, one I believe you are familiar with?" Naruto nodded, not following. He remembered the statue, he'd been trapped in it for _a thousand freakin' years_. Where was Kurama going? "Get to the point Kurama…" The fox looked miffed. "The point is, anyone with the Rinnegan can summon that statue. One of the benefits of that particular summonings is that with the initial summon of the Gedo Mazo, you gain the additional ability to summon chakra rods that can disrupt energy...with side effects." Naruto didn't know the fox could shrug; it looked out of place and only served to make him look more demonic. Juxtaposition does that. "Of course, this is all highly theoretical because we have absolutely no idea if it'll work… but worse case scenario is you take on all nine-tails and try to survive having your head blown off...but you'll probably die from the chakra poisoning anyway." Again, the smile Kurama gave him was not pleasant; whose side was this guy on anyway?

Summoning the Gedo Mazo...was that even possible with this other energy interfering? He did occasionally feel a presence hovering like a light you view only in your peripheral vision. Once you look it was gone as if you imagined it the whole time. Of course, that presence was only there when he had his doujutsu activated.

Naruto felt his barrier being tested outside his mindscape. Cerberus? Kurama sensed it too, as the big fox looked up and out of the building at something only he could see. Ah, the bijuu eye. Little bastard could see everything he could. Naruto scowled. He couldn't take a leak now without Kurama being a big pervert.

It was time to go.

"Okay. It is the best and really only plan we have so far...so we'll do it. Shit is gonna go down fast when I bring out that big-ass statue. We don't really have a plan for escaping this place either; so we'll have to think one up on the fly." Kurama nodded. "Cerberus wants to test me to see what my powers are...and I think I'll give them a display they probably will wish they did without."

It was truly perfect; Naruto would summon a demon of vengeance and this facility would go down in flames…

...assuming they didn't blow his head off and a whole host of other variables didn't fuck everything up. Tch. Naruto wiped his face clean of expression, made a single handseal, and his mindscape dissolved.

Naruto woke up.

Three soldiers were standing outside his fuuin-barrier waiting for him. Canceling the technique, Naruto faced the crowd and everyone took a step back. Subject Odin's pronounced canines were very, very visible with the far-too-happy grin pasted across his face. He thought of Miranda and that doctor; they would be the first to die when their God of War got free...he'd show them the true face of Odin.

Yes, Miranda and Dr. Angersol would die a horrible, horrible death.

**SUBJECT ZERO**

Zero shifted, uncomfortable against the glass she rested against as she watched that weird glowing barrier around the new guy. It was biotic, she was sure of it, but it didn't look like any biotics she'd ever seen. Zero ran a hand over her bare scalp and the raised bumps of her barcode. She'd seen only one other person have the same sort of identifications as she did.

The new guy, Subject Odin.

She didn't know how to feel really and it was a simple reason why; things had changed about a month and a half ago. The facility was like a kicked bee-hive and she remembered because it was close to her birthday. Nobody had kicked her. Nobody had come in to her cell and….done other things. Nobody even so much as paid any attention at all to her and she wasn't sure what to think. She'd started to hear whispers of a new subject, a different subject-one that would elevate them all to gods. The savior of humanity; it had to have been a bunch of horseshit right? Zero herself could do things nobody else could and it only got better as she got older...well better meaning she could kill more and more things. But the beatings got worse, the treatments got worse, and she was abused far more often than she could ever remember. It had just stopped the day the rumours started. Everyone, all those kids she had beat up on, were thrown into the same cell; the newly-dubbed, 'Pens.' Oh it was a battle-royale every night some days-she'd had to kill a few for them to leave her alone, but at least she wasn't alone anymore, unacknowledged.

It was heaven compared to the rest of her life.

So she sent a prayer of thanks off to whatever brought about this change...and it turns out it was a boy about her age. And he was intimidating even by her standards. He looked like those stereotypical pirates her dad used to read to her about when she was little. The swashbuckling anti-heroes who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, who sailed amongst the stars fighting against injustices and made themselves rich all at the same time.

This one moved like the best of the soldiers she'd seen since coming here-and she'd killed a fair few of those herself, but she felt like this kid was leagues above them.

He'd be a hard one to put down. His biotics were like nothing she'd ever seen...she could see why Cerberus was so interested. In fact, this was the first time she'd realized it even was the shadowy company her papa talked about; the facility, before it got renovated, had no affiliation whatsoever. No patches, no symbols, no nothing. But now she knew.

Zero wanted off this place, out of this hellhole, and before she knew the kids around her would never have rebelled-why would they? Most of them were orphans, or kids Cerberus abducted, before they even were old enough to understand what happened. They all thought they had good lives. Zero snorted. She saw the differences though, the beatings, the torture. She _knew_ if they escaped they'd all have better lives.

The collars made it impossible though. That was a new touch; something that came along with their new cellmate. She couldn't help but resent him a little for that. Zero had been biding her time, waiting for the right moment, the right slip-up, to break free and kill everything she could get her hands on. But now? She might be able to stage a prison riot and all the pent-up rage and hatred that swirled in the air and choked them all would be directed, not at each other, but at Cerberus. Who better to lead them than the new kid? The one whose changes made this possible?

It remained to be seen whose side he was on, however, as _everyone _saw him being chummy with that Cerberus bitch and the doctor all of them hated beyond all comprehension. She would have to wait and see whose side this, 'Odin' was really on. Then, and only then, would Zero act...and maybe they'd be able to pull off the take-over of Pragia facility. It was better than staying here and rotting right?

Anything was better than that.

Anything.

It seems her waiting period was over though because the weird biotic barrier dropped and those baton-wielding soldiers led Odin out of the Pens again. All the kids, as soon as they left, pressed up against the glass walls and saw five towering mechanical YMIR mechs waiting for him out there. Zero had never been able to fight off more than three. Did Cerberus honestly think he could handle all of those? With just biotics? Intriguing.

Zero watched Odin's face and he didn't register any surprise, hesitation, or fright-on the contrary, he looked absurdly happy. Well, fuck Cerberus, and fuck Miranda especially for throwing him into danger he obviously didn't understand. It just pissed Zero off.

She happened to glance over and saw the anxious face of Little Miss Perfect Angel-face, the stupid bint that almost got raped by Zex earlier-she'd had to bash that psycho's face in more than once for him to get the point. The angelic girl, vicious as she was, was watching Odin with a little more trepidation than normal. What was her deal? She was cold as ice-much like Zero herself-and this was very out of character. Zero dismissed the notion and turned back to watch the oncoming action.

This would either be a bloodbath, or she'd have all the answers to her questions.

She hoped she would find answers.

* * *

As always, please read and review! An author can only get better if he is given specific constructive feedback!

Thanks again and till next Saturday, adieu!

Arte


	4. Chapter 3: Priority: Pragia

**A/N: Hey everybody, Arte here with the next chapter of Book 1 of Memoirs of an N7; Odin Convergence! Chapter Three: Priority: Pragia!**

**I have to say, this chapter was particularly hard to write. I'm not sure why. I hope you like it. It tops out at about 14,000 words and I think it will be a little controversial, but hopefully very, very entertaining. I want everyone who reads to at least write one review! Even if its just to say you hate it, I'll love them. Anyway, please read and review as always!**

**Cheers,**

**Arte**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Priority: Pragia**

"Not all men seek rest and peace; some are born with the spirit of the storm in their blood, restless harbingers of violence and bloodshed, knowing no other path."

-ROBERT E. HOWARD, "A Witch Shall Be Born," _Weird Tales_ (1934)

_**CE 2175: STAGING GROUND HERCULES in ATTICAN BETA: Cyberwarfare Department, 3:00 a.m PST**_

**EMAIL**

**Secure Alliance Transmission: Priority Code OMEGA ZERO, **

**From: Admiral Hackett (Alliance Arcturus 5th Fleet), **

**To: Rear Admiral Kahoku, SSV Jakarta**

**Security Code: Alpha Foxtrot, xxxx-2TY5-xxxx-7WT**

_Kahoku,_

_Our mutual friend in the 63rd bid me give you some information I think you might find very, very interesting. If you'll see the attached R6 datacache, I'm sure you'll see what I mean for yourself. _

_Short summary: Cerberus is responsible for your marines-don't ask me how I know, just read the datacache. But more important-if you'll forgive me for saying-is that something big is happening in the Dakka System; our crypto-analysts decoded a lot of disparate information-key terms really-but the gist is that they've discovered alien tech on a formerly unknown planet in Geth space. It was valuable enough for them to be willing to break their strict regimen of secrecy to acquire it. _

_You know what that means as much as I do Kahoku. We're almost sure they have no idea we know anything about this. In their arrogance, WE MUST ACT._

_This chance is something I know you won't squander; I doubt we would have known about this if they weren't uncharacteristically sloppy. I bring this to you because I know how much this chance means to you; I'll back you a hundred percent and I'll set my best man on the job, Colonel Anderson-I think you two have met-he's yours for the duration. Lord knows the man could use something to focus his wandering attentions..._

_Anyway, I'm sure they haven't realized how much additional data we've gleaned from that dissident we caught trying to assassinate the UNAS President and put together, a very chilling picture emerges. Do you understand? The stars are aligning here. This is it. _

_ Keep me posted on what you choose to do. I think it is well worth the risk don't you? _

_Regards,_

_Steven Hackett_

_PS. I've also attached what we now know about Edolus and your marines-don't dwell too long and forget to live. Hopefully this new information will help with your choice._

**REPLY**

**Secure Alliance Transmission: Priority Code OMEGA ZERO, **

**From: Rear Admiral Kahoku, SSV Jakarta**

**To: Admiral Hackett (Alliance Arcturus 5th Fleet)**

**Security Code: Alpha Foxtrot, xxxx-2TY5-xxxx-7WT**

_Steven, _

_I'll take care of it. _

_Thank you...more than words can say. We'll nail them to a cross with this-make no mistake. I'll keep you updated. Tell Anderson to rendezvous with the rest of my team at HERCULES, he'll be leading the charge. _

_Kahoku_

_**CE 2175: Milky Way, Nubian Expanse, Dakka System, Pragia; formerly TELTIN FACILITY**_

**Miranda Lawson**

Miranda's heels made clicking sounds as she set a fast pace from her temporary quarters out to the Arena where Dr. Angersol waited. She was to leave for her next project in a week and she needed to have this situation remedied and progressing within acceptable parameters before then. Hence her haste.

It took her two minutes; two minutes in which she mentally reviewed all of the recent communications she'd received from her boss. He wanted results immediately. She could hear the stress in his voice-though she was sure he thought he'd hidden it quite well. She understood the stress; their recent business acquisitions and the subplots in place back on Earth were not going well, at least according to GNN.

Results from this project and gaining ground on advancing this potentially monumental leap in human evolution, were vital to the further stages of the overall plan. Dr. Angersol, much to her dismay, was over the moon about the minimal and frankly lackluster results they'd achieved thus far; and, while she knew it was a gentle, patient process that yielded the best results, that was simply not how her organization operated their science departments.

Every other department? Yes.

Patience with long-range political gambits and subtle manipulations, again yes, but not when it came to experimentation and breakthroughs with potential military applications. Effectiveness and speed was what counted. And balancing those was not easy. Unfortunately, she suspected they had overplayed their hand a bit, recklessly picking Subject Odin up from where they found him and not ensuring proper covert procedures for retrieval.

She shook her head, tying back her silky, black hair in a ponytail as she crossed the large security threshold. Miranda nodded to two troopers guarding the long hallway that lead to the control room, barracks, and hangar. Her boss' problems (and by extension hers) were forgotten as she stared at the subjects in the Pens all pressed up against the glass watching her soldiers escort Odin towards the elevated balcony where she and Angersol waited. She didn't even hear Angersol step up next to her with his databoard and customary infantile grin. Miranda had known as soon as that frustrating enigma that was Subject Odin stepped out of the Pens, that she would have to up the stakes to get the results she wanted-no, _needed_. It was more than just her job on the line after all.

This was her big break-secure this, _do this_, and Oriana was safe forever. The Illusive Man had promised.

She took in the arrogant smirk, the dried blood covering the white uniform, the spiraling tattoo's and rugged appearance of Odin and Miranda had to remind herself he was still a teenager. But something niggled at her. Something had changed in his demeanor-he was confident again, not just fronting as he seemed to be before. If she wanted to break him, to get him to reveal his secrets, she needed to find the right buttons to push. That meant uncovering what changed. Luckily, she had already viewed the footage from the fight in the Pens, and his actions afterwards, and she had a pretty good idea of which buttons to press and where. The Cerberus operative had seen the way he fought for those other subjects he didn't know-it was clear he had a soft spot. A soft spot meant vulnerabilities. Of course, casual death and combat didn't seem to phase him-so that meant the coercion through the collar would be less effective...meaning the emotional route had to be tried as her next option. Miranda zoned back in to hear Dr. Angersol talking about the latest results.

"...ah, I know you've been asking for speediness but...well, the subjects we've injected using DNA synthesis have rejected Odin's base pair integration. Even the samples I've sent to Minuteman Station. Er...well it killed the subjects actually-some poison we've never seen before residing in his very mitochondria. Fascinating really...and gruesome actually. They start to boil and burn from the inside out-" A raised hand cut him off. She'd seen the test results and knew very well what he was talking about. She had taught herself to a PHD-level in these subjects; she wasn't _stupid_...stupid man. It made no matter. They would be able to glean something from this conundrum if it was the last thing she did.

The good doctor was sweating like a pig. Curious, she noted amused, as the Arena was cooled artificially to a perfect, balmy seventy degrees. Miranda had biotically flayed the last expendable asset who hadn't pleased her. She knew he knew.

"Angersol, continue doing your best. Our demonstration today by our hopefully compliant subject will give us a base to work from. Seeing his brand of energy use will indicate, perhaps, which way our attention should turn. If he is NOT compliant...well, that will be a bridge we'll burn when we get to it. Is there anything else terribly important or can we get to it? The Illusive Man is impatient with our work." The perfectly arched eyebrow was the only indication of her level of irritation with all of these proceedings. The doctor was wisely silent, simply sweeping his arm forward to invite her to proceed. Miranda activated her omni-tool, the orange computer springing into being around her arm. Several haptic-keystrokes later five heavily armored, heavily modified YMIR mechs, at least seven feet tall, activated across from the small party that had halted in the middle of the Arena. The massive box-like white and black machines unfolded and stood. The two soldiers flanking the blood-covered Odin saw the mechas, correctly identifying the absurd threat they represented. Odin though was looking right at her. She could see his burning eye from where she was. It seemed to look through her and she felt herself experience her own death. It felt like deja vu.

She breathed deep, chest trembling unexpectedly. Perhaps it was her imagination.

The visible canines in the grin pasted across Odin's face made her less certain. It seemed that every time she saw him, he changed-growing darker. When she first met him, he seemed...uncertain, sad, unfocused-like he'd just lost his very reason for living. Now though, he seemed focused like a laser; a dark mask covering him and perhaps, she thought somewhat treasonously, they never should have brutalized him the way they did. The Illusive Man claimed it was them holding up their end of the bargain, but...she feared that they'd simply given him a target in their organization; a terrible dark purpose that replaced the emptiness he'd once felt. A horrible thought occurred to her, one she should have thought of before they'd set him, the fox, in the henhouse of the Pens. Miranda was unaware of the awful comparison she'd drawn.

They set an unknown enemy against them in every way possible and then placed him amongst others who felt the same. Miranda swallowed and tried to firm her resolve up. She was following specific orders from the Illusive Man; no more and no less. They didn't have a secure cell to keep him in and being among others enabled them to keep a watch on his movements and powers since it seemed he was docile until provoked-plus how could do anything secret while other dangerous unknowns were all around him?

It seemed like a solid plan until she turned back to the small smile floating on the lips of the monster she was responsible for creating; her idea, her, eponymous God of War. The whole charade, of leashing something they didn't understand, felt profoundly stupid.

They needed to control him at all costs.

Miranda let none of the turmoil show on her face as she cleared her throat, dismissed the soldiers, and addressed the object of her thoughts. "I assume you are smiling because you finally have something to show us Odin? Else I cannot imagine what you find humorous, that is, given that we can kill you at any time." The smirk stayed. _Fine, be that way!_ Unfortunately they couldn't just kill him and harvest his body. They needed more time and more tests.

It was time to proceed with the next phase.

**NARUTO: ODIN**

The blood on his uniform kept the soldiers from attempts to man handle him, he was sure of it. Kurama was very approving of this method of intimidation. Naruto could use any advantage he could grab with both hands. Advantages-any advantage at all-was important, especially when he was entering the next phase of his own plan. Perception was just as important as truth...perhaps more so.

Cerberus believed him to be fully in control of all of his powers and he needed to present a calm, unruffled front so they didn't suspect he was not sure in the least that he'd be able to show them anything at all beyond what he'd already revealed. And as Miranda's face was inscrutable without his Rinnegan to show him the truth, control was key here-so every mantra that had been drilled into him came to the fore of his mind. It let him breathe easier.

The return of his Rinnegan was the objective of today's demonstrations. Naruto hadn't had a chance to figure out how much he could actually achieve of his former powers-of which he didn't have many-but he'd need to buckle down and focus today. If he didn't, Cerberus' calculation of his worth _alive_ could change things. He had a few ideas about getting rid of the damn collar but he needed more time. It was always about time. He simply needed more, which meant giving them a show and satisfying them enough that they left him alone for a time.

_I hope…_

He'd use that time to scope out the rest of the subjects-subjects that were obviously brutalized like him...perhaps worse. _Probably _worse. That meant grudges-maybe buried deep, maybe not-that he could exploit to unite them all. The angel-faced girl he'd saved, the beast of a kid who'd thanked him, that rat-faced little weakling who cowered against the wall...he'd have to make use of them if they were to escape.

They would owe him before today was over.

Plans raced through Naruto's head as he settled his most arrogant Uchiha-smirk on his face. Naruto was imagining, as he stared that Cerberus cunt in the face, that he was ripping her in half with chakra claws. What a nice image. His father, Izuna, and Lord Chiriku would never have approved, but he was sure the Uzumaki-side of his family would...if they heard what had been done to him. He heard Kurama rumble approval in the back of his mind. Naruto had never considered how empowering it could be to hold anothers life in his hands; he was judge, jury, and executioner. Who was to gainsay him when these people were clearly beyond redemption?

Speaking of beyond redemption, the snivelling doctor next to Miranda seemed far too excited and childish to be the cliche version of horribly evil man he was. At the moment, he looked more like an overgrown child with new play toys. But Naruto knew he had far more in common with the child that liked to pull one wing off an insect to see if it could still fly than the innocent curiosity of any other child. Looks could most certainly be deceiving.

It was something he was counting on.

So Naruto smiled and smiled some more, but because he was gritting his teeth and trying to hold his fake smile, he missed the first part of what the Cerberus-puppet had been saying. He assumed it was more drivel about demonstrations. Naruto amused himself daydreaming about very out-of-character bloodthirsty revenge schemes. The last Konoha-nin mentally scrubbed his hands together in glee; today would be a day they wouldn't forget.

"...you are smiling because you finally have something to show us Odin? Else I cannot imagine what you find humorous given that we can _kill you at any time_." Naruto kept his plastic smile on and Miranda continued, seemingly undisturbed by his defiance, "I've provided five Ogre mechs for your demonstration." Here her smile had a slight edge to it. "We've equipped them with live ammunition. I have a high opinion of your ability to stay alive during this demonstration. I'd hate for our investment to go to waste; but I don't believe you'll take this seriously enough if we don't treat this as a live exercise. You will be able to handle it yes?" Naruto didn't know exactly what she meant by, 'live ammunition' but he got the feeling it was like using real kunai versus blunted kunai. Lord Chiriku and the other senior Monks were big believers in this, 'live fire' training. A shudder passed through him in remembrance.

He'd be able to handle it and he told her so. She didn't look convinced, but tapped something on her orange thingey that made loud mechanical noises spring up around him. Naruto had only seconds to realize his guards had bailed on him, faster than he thought them capable, and that his opponents were the five mechanical monstrosities trying to flank him. _Tch. _They weren't giving him any slack apparently.

A noise like the breaking of a dam heralded all five mechs opening fire. Surprise registered in his one 'normal' eye as mass-accelerated bullets shredded his shoulder and stomach, passing through his flesh creating inch and a half wide holes. Naruto's blood flew in arcs as the spurting red fire from the arm weapons of the machines lit up the air.

**ANGEL**

Angela Markozy, or Angel as her friends called her (of which there were only two), watched with bated breath like every other kid in the Pens as the new guy, Odin, was riddled with bullets. Gaping, sucking wounds opened and blood flew in the air in gouts as he tumbled backwards. Why didn't he throw up a barrier? Move? Something? _Anything_?

She saw the blood splatter against the pristine white flooring and she almost closed her eyes. It was good she didn't though because she never would have believed anyone could still be alive after taking several mass effect rounds to the chest, _unarmored and unshielded_, especially from something as nasty as an OGRE anti-infantry assault mech.

She knew that personally.

She'd been forced to fight one with Tony, Mark, and Zero. She would've liked to think they'd won because it was a team effort, but really it was mostly Zero. They knew she had the best implants, the best augmentations, the best of everything Cerberus could give her...and she didn't even seem grateful for the edge. She acted like it was a forgone conclusion that she would survive and that she did them a favor by 'saving them'. The rest of them had to suffer as test subjects for things that may or may not have worked. Angela was outfitted as a long-range marksman/biotic support specialist while her big, gentle friend Tony was outfitted with biotics that enhanced his already crazy strength. Her friend Mark, the little one with a quite unfortunate face-he didn't get the cosmetic genetic enhancements like Angela did-was not biotic at all, but rather, he was plugged into a lot of electronics. She didn't know what he could really do exactly...Angela thought that was why he was always cowering behind Tony or her, well, plus the speech impediment. Stuttering made it hard to make friends when you couldn't get a word in edgewise.

As for Zero...well she wasn't exactly a friend or an enemy. Her and her two friends were the only ones who didn't hate Zero for being singled out as special by Cerberus-frankly the three of them just wanted out, to get out and find their families. Of course, just because they wanted to leave didn't mean they were unaware of the realities of prison life. You didn't trust easy, you didn't mess with the pecking order, and you didn't-under any circumstances-attack a guard. Attacking the hand that fed them brought retaliation down on all of them. So, you kept your head down and maintained the status quo. The status quo was also known as Zero is left alone, Zex did whatever the fuck he wanted, and you tried not to die while being whored out as gladiators in the Arena.

That is, until Odin came along. Then things changed-and not for the better.

With Zex dead-killed by Odin's hands no less-there was no leadership, no hierarchy, and no status quo. The leader thing… well, Zero was the strongest of them all, but she didn't give a flying fuck about anything-in fact, she just wanted Cerberus dead. Angela couldn't have agreed more, but she liked to stay alive long enough to stand over their cooling corpses...not go out guns blazing like this moron Odin was doing. It reinforced her belief that Cerberus was wasting their time with this washed up loser with his fancy moves. Angela had seen fancy moves before-they meant shit when a bullet entered the back of your head. So she never understood what was so special about Odin until he'd saved her...but even then she was skeptical. So what if he did some fancy martial arts? So what if he was fast? Zero could drop him like a rock-splatter him against a wall regardless of how fast he was with sheer overwhelming biotic might. There HAD to be more to him, else why would Cerberus not waste him with the collar? She'd seen them do it before.

Angela, with her perfectly symmetrical features that were too perfect-too beautiful-to be human, her skin too soft and faintly violent to be natural, with her flexibility and marksmanship that was bordering supernatural, could now understand what was so special about Subject Odin.

A bubbling red mist that writhed like a basket of snakes, so _alive_, seeped out from the numerous holes in his body and Angela had never been more torn between terror and awe in her whole life. That was, until she saw what happened next.

**ODIN**

The pain of multiple bullet wounds barely registered as it had _nothing_ on liquified eyeball dripping down your face courtesy of a kunai scraping against bone._ That _had hurt. The pain didn't prevent him from getting to his feet and, before anyone could register that he was not as dead as believed, Naruto channelled as little of the chakra fusion energy as he could. He became a blur of purple-black haze and afterimage, speeding out of the line of sight of the OGRE's who'd registered the hits. His dash took him alongside the railing where Miranda looked out, inscrutable. Opposite her, Dr. Angersol scribbled away on his datapad.

Every eye was on the blur that was Odin.

Kurama was speaking urgently as he moved, _You can still do the basic techniques right? Just do one of them and end this._ His voice sounded worried, Naruto understood his concern as the capabilities of those weapons attached to the machines were...formidable. They were definitely faster than a thrown kunai. The small pieces of metal which fell out of his body sped from the, 'gun' and into his body faster than most jonin could sprint fully enhanced with chakra. Naruto knew if he was pinned in that hailstorm at the wrong place or angle that he'd be shredded to pieces and not even Kurama could put him back together; rebuilding a brain was not the same as replacing intestine. But doing a basic technique was harder than it looked, his techniques didn't work the same way anymore. From the very basic understanding he'd gained, he needed to understand exactly what he was doing when he used whatever technique he had chosen in order for it to work. He had to use his mind to grasp the fundamental understanding of what he was doing, shape the energy using everything he'd learned about shape manipulation, then imbue it with direction using his form manipulation. A Kawarimi, or replacement, was significantly harder without understanding exactly what he was doing. Forget a clone, or even a transformation; it was the brute force stuff that was easiest.

So Naruto bobbed and weaved, trying to keep the artificial cover in the Arena-most in the form of free-standing pillars, low-lying boxes, or short walls-between him and the relentless searching hailstorm of bullets. It had been a very, very long time since he'd had a fight lasting longer than five minutes and he could already feel himself tiring.

As he moved, he tried to ignore Kurama's worried mutters. Five minutes passed, then ten. Those precious minutes were spent frantically moulding chakra into techniques that fell apart, over and over again. Bunshin, kawarimi, henge-hell even a Fuuton: daitoppa-and In that time he'd learned that imposing his will on a technique, combined with sheer determination and rock-solid belief, were far more important to a successful execution of a technique than hand seals or traditional methods of moulding. The fact remained, though, that he simply didn't have the deeper understanding of natural forces necessary to create the elemental technique. So, he sprinted and tried not to die as bullets trailed his shadow while he, still infused with chakra, desperately tried not to be pinned by the five mecha.

There was only so much room though and these OGRE's had perfectly synchronized teamwork. Two were always consistently firing at him and three tracked him, adjusting their placement to keep him in their sights. Naruto minimized his target profile by desperately spinning and flipping while unsealing two kunai that dropped into either hand. The extra reach of the kunai enabled him to just barely get his knives up in time to deflect the veritable torrent of lead from the OGRE's. Naruto's heart beat a staccato rhythm as he tried to slow his breathing. Hands blurring as they deflected the rounds he hadn't dodged, Naruto finally heard the click of empty barrels as he was pushed to the point of exhaustion. Too late, he realized he was up against the massive far wall, looking too much like he stepped up to his own firing squad.

Trapped. To the right was the long line of glass-encased Pens and to his right, further on, was the long set of Arena observation posts and balconies, maybe twenty feet off the ground. Catwalks overhead saw multiple patrols of armored snipers carrying long box-weapons-guns-and all of them were trained on the newest Cerberus subject. The three mechs who were emptying their cyclical cannons pinned him in a long, arcing formation and the other two sandwiched the last remaining space available for him to easily escape from as they all formed a wall. Now it was either over them or through them.

Time had run out, however, for decision-making.

The sound of cycling barrels heralded the mecha opening fire; full-auto. There was no cover, open sight lines for tens of thousands of rounds, he was unarmored, and with no way out before all of that firepower caught him and tore him to shreds.

In Naruto's mind, possible plans were being concocted and discarded in rapid order. Things were a mess; Kurama was yelling, he was yelling back, red bubbling chakra attempted to envelop him and shield him from the mass-accelerated rounds. But he knew, from the last time he used the chakra, that since his body wasn't quite ready to channel bijuu chakra, that he needed another solution instead of relying on it to keep him safe. He needed to think.

Time slowed as Naruto raced to find a solution to his imminent demise; could he outrun the massive cloud of lead? No, too fast, too widespread to get clear of the killing radius, but could he simply weather the assault with his kunai-deflecting them worked before-but no. Ideally, he wanted to get out of this with one of his jutsu; simultaneously ending this fight and giving Cerberus what they wanted. But this whole demonstration was about his doujutsu for him, after all, wasn't it? They['d outmaneuvered him and decided to risk his death in order to motivate him-but they didn't call them off either, which meant it was an acceptable loss. He'd do his best to give them what they wanted.

Naruto shoved all of his willpower and waning energy towards his doujutsu, willing it to awaken. Willing it to appear and give him the tools he needed to control the wild ocean of mongrel energy racing through his veins. A sharp pain burst in his eye and he gritted his teeth. The whole world seemed to compress to a black pinhole then expand into colors he never knew existed. It wasn't simply his imagination this time; time really was slower. In his eye, three new small circles intersected by the typical concentric circles, started to rotate.

Then he made his move.

Naruto hopped to the side, dodging the first round which would've opened up his stomach, and bent at the waist, pulling his arms in throwing himself forward. Floating his arms away from his body in perfect control, he dodged the first thousand rounds neatly. His eye snapped open and trajectories awoke in his mind as numbers were crunched and calculated and instincts came to the fore accompanied by the riot of colored wisps floating about on the various observers in the room. Fields of blue hexagonal crystal floated around each of the mechs. He could see the layers of structure and how mass fluctuated around them-hardening the small bits of matter and energy while pushing them closer together to allow no gaps. Kunai, swords, and most jutsu couldn't penetrate that thick shield without suitable force. More damage would occur to his hand than to the barrier if he tried to punch through it without assistance. His mind was overwhelmed with unfamiliar sensory input for a microsecond, but he'd seen the solution already. In fact, it was the oldest trick in the book.

Luckily for Naruto, the Rinnegan, though he couldn't see it, had gone through minute changes with the addition of the unknown energy to the potent cocktail of workable energy in his body. The whole world was alive with color and he could see the lines, fields, folds, and chemical reactions in the very air. His mind couldn't yet process everything adequately. All he knew was that he had a moderate amount of control over of his new mongrel chakra-enough to execute basic things he'd known from his previous life.

He intended to use it.

Life snapped back into normal speed and Naruto, in mid-tumble, slapped a hand against the zig-zagged arrow fuuin-tattoo on his left arm that represented the basic replacement technique. He pictured sinking into a kind of wormhole like the Kamui technique of Obito's. He pictured moving, replacing himself with the likes of his target, and suddenly his perspective was very, very different.

Naruto watched from his new position as a hailstorm of super-heated, mass-lightened tungsten armor piercing rounds shredded the OGRE he'd replaced himself with. Holes opened up in vicious, pounding strikes against armor not designed for such overwhelming punishment. A derisive, bordering hysteric, laugh-definitely containing the hard-to-describe feelings of a near death experience-bubbled out of him and echoed around the room. The thunderclap of displaced air from his technique, proportionate to the OGRE mechs mass, drew unwanted attention to his gambit.

Defeated by an academy technique. It might be all he was capable of...but it was very much enough to defeat these amateurs. Suddenly, Naruto was feeling much better about his odds of survival; regardless of how exhausted he felt. The drain on his reserves, reserves that he hadn't focused much on increasing as a monk (he'd focused more on control, which was next to useless now) had been increased-but not by much-by Kurama's presence. His brother had had a fancy seal buffering and converting the vast reserves to useable chakra ever since he was young. Naruto's own body and rinnegan, on the other hand, lent him ever increasing trickles of converted energy. It was painstaking and slow. But again, it didn't seem to matter against such easily tricked foes.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts as the other four mecha turned, almost surprised (though he didn't think machines could feel surprise), and trained their guns on him. He leapt backwards, pushing off the ground for a boost, and landed some distance away, settling in a crouch with one hand on the floor. He had eyes only for Miranda who oddly enough, looked pissed. She was glowing an eerie blue color and the hand that was gripping the solid white railing in front of her was bending-he could hear the metal warping. Dr. Angersol, next to her with his datapad, looked faintly alarmed. Amazing, considering Naruto didn't think he actually knew what was going on around him when Naruto's powers were on display. He was too far away to hear her barked out orders, but the place resembled a kicked beehive. The soldiers behind her leapt to attention and halted the OGRE mechs, two others rushed down the stairs and crossed the shredded, formerly pristine white battlefield and disappeared into the Pens. Naruto could just barely make out the sudden commotion inside. The absurdly tall kid, his hella gorgeous compatriot, and the ugly midget disappeared from where he'd seen them watching him behind the glass.

Naruto turned back to Miranda. She had an angry glint in her eye that promised vengeance. Was it the fact he hadn't really demonstrated anything new? Naruto started to sweat. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if he had a death wish. _Pushing their buttons like this…do you want to die Naruto?_ He shook his head to clear it. He'd been acting like he was hot shit and too valuable for them to kill. On the other hand though, it helped ensure they overestimated his worth…Yet, a little voice niggled him cruelly, reminding him that he was the last of a dead race of people and what the hell kind of a life would he have anyway as a stranger in a strange land-maybe it was better to get himself killed, that is if he could even die.

What point was there being in a land that was just more strife, and more heartache. This little defiance would mean nothing in the long run, or so he thought. Why not just demonstrate what they wanted?

Wind and Fire were two elements he'd had an easy time of learning-that wasn't to say he couldn't do the other ones, they all came pretty much equally easily, but as Lord Chiriku had famously said once, "...idiot boy likes to mix things together that go boom, big time." Blah, blah, blah _how will we ever keep the Hokage's son alive if he likes things that go boom?_ Etcetera, etcetera. Naruto usually tuned them out. Unfortunately, without knowing what natural forces create fire or generate the swirling winds he was familiar with, it seemed his repertoire was out of commission. I mean, how would he even generate water or pull earth from this all-metal facility? Naruto simply didn't have the resources or understanding to accomplish anything as of now. His focus needed to be on getting out of here. First step? This fucking collar.

On this topic, he had a few evil thoughts. A grin stretched across his face-but was quickly snuffed out by the arrival of a bloody, bruised, and battered blonde-haired girl he would recognize anywhere. She hung between the two soldiers limply, defiantly, with one bloodied eye open and glaring daggers at him and Miranda.

_Why me_, _the hell did I do_?

The girl had obviously fought as long as she could, but she might have given in for all the good it had done her. Still, Naruto admired her fire. Dots connected in his head and he realized why that Cerberus asshat had brought out this particular girl...

The time for laughing and grinning as if this was a big fucking joke was over; indeed, it seemed his time had run out and what he feared had come to pass. Innocents were getting caught up in the crossfire. Cerberus had started to play dirty and didn't need the collar to do it.

**MIRANDA**

The thoroughness and ease with which one of her limited number of OGRE's had been destroyed was not what had Miranda fuming. It was the ease with which is happened-and the lack of any concretely helpful data. They had slipped a subdermal chip into Odin's skin to monitor energy output and usage, a procedure that wasn't anything special. Most of the subjects that were biotically-inclined-and strong-had a sub-dermal chip in addition to their L3 implants.

Odin's chip wasn't responding and they hadn't even realized it.

This demonstration was useless unless she could get him to reveal something new. That power, the one Sgt. Daylum had mentioned he'd been subjected to on LRZ-X3 (the newly identified planet in the Perseus Veil) was something they'd already seen via footage and it told them no more about how it worked than Odin zooming around as a purple haze. The whole thing was immensely frustrating and before she realized what she was doing, Miranda had a faint biotic glow and was crushing the railing with one fist.

Breathing calmly, she released her stranglehold on the railing and started thinking. Malleable. That was the word. Subject Odin needed to be _malleable_. And how did one make a target malleable? Blackmail, threats, and leverage. Unfortunately, they didn't have blackmail, threats didn't usually work on this kind of hardened target, and that simply left leverage. Perhaps killing the subjects one at a time would work on him. He seemed oddly emotionally vulnerable-she'd seen Sgt. Daylum's footage of him collapsing in the ruins of a city on LRZ-X3. Miranda knew what she had to do.

She stopped leaning on the railing and pushed herself off, expression hardening as she sought out the soldiers clustered around her awaiting her command. Miranda picked one soldier out of the cluster and pinned him with her Command Stare, "Bring me Subject Angel." Turning away, she stopped, looking thoughtful, "...and make sure to rough her up a bit. I want blood." The soldier saluted and turned away, gesturing to two others to follow him. Miranda watched them disappear down the stairs and cross the battlefield, away from the four still active mecha. They didn't so much as glance at Subject Odin as they made their way down.

The youngest Cerberus operative turned to Dr. Angersol and gestured for him to stay right there. They would wait for their newest ploy and see if they Cerberus could do the impossible; break a War God.

Miranda ignored the niggling fear in the back of her mind. Her studies on apex predators and alien psychophysiology was proving ineffective for this task; unfortunately, it left her with only her training as an operative dealing with regular humans. Humans broke easily. But she was about to find out that the newest species of human, _homo sapiens chakram_, didn't break easily-and if you could manage it, it was _messy._

For their enemies.

**ODIN**

Naruto might have been all of thirteen (or a thousand and thirteen, who was counting?), but he'd been reading texts on battle his whole life. Ninja started young; it was a reality. With so many powerful ninja as part of his clans, he couldn't help but overhear all the messy, gory details. And, insofar as kids were concerned, most adult ninja felt it was detrimental to the survival of genin that they weren't exposed to the harsh realities early on in life. Naruto had only gone so far with his traditional ninja training, however, and his mother, Kushina, had tried her best to shield him from knowing how many people their father had killed-or how many she had killed herself. But other times, she was shockingly candid. When she did share, with Naruto and Izuna, she had told them about the principles at work behind the killings. The careful weighing and balancing of lives taken versus lives killed and it was this calculus that was at work now in Naruto's head.

His mom had always been careful to emphasize what the true meaning of the Will of Fire, something she'd learned early on when she arrived from Uzushiogakure. Mito, their great-grandmother once removed, had emphasized that the Uzumaki's had Senju-ties and blood; however, she also made a point of reminding little Kushina that love would break the cycle of hatred and keep the Demon penned. Unfortunately, the flip-side, said Mito, was that sometimes love could be compatible with the worst atrocities. A ninja that killed with love in their heart was nigh unstoppable, hence we need our comrades to keep us grounded. For, if we do not do what we do for the person next to us in battle, what value is there in what we fight for? Lord Chiriku and the other monks had espoused this constantly; that fire needed air to grow stronger and so too did the ninja (or ninja monk) needed something precious to fight for.

Naruto had always been alone and never understood what he had meant. Sure, he fought for his mom and dad, his brother and cousins, but never had any _friends_. Karin was annoying as shit so she didn't count. Izuna was the best of them all and it was hard to relate to somebody so perfect in everything they did; be it simply comforting his brother after being picked on, or fighting in the Chunin exams, or mastering his bijuu, or escorting old ladies across the street...it was _hard to hate him_, but it was even harder to get close to him.

So Naruto was alone.

But here now, there were other kids his age being tortured, experimented on, and killed. The beaten and bloody girl he watched coming his way tugged at him in a way he'd never experienced before in his life. The faint stirrings of outrage and the flames of righteousness grew inside his breast. Is that what Izuna had felt like every time he saw his kid brother being picked on for something outside of his control? If so, he never knew how Izuna had controlled it.

The girl looked to be his age, and he couldn't help his staring at her picture-perfect face and youthful body. She represented a purity he'd never associated with kids before. Innocent to a degree yes, because how many kids survived the pens with innocence truly intact right? But she was more innocent than the child-killers that made up his people. He wondered what made her tick and it was then, when he sat considering the other that he realized he'd already made his choice.

The choice Nagato had mentioned; between a renegade and a paragon. Nagato niisan had been very, very wrong as there was a third option; to protect that which cannot protect itself, to go to any lengths to defend the indefensible. It didn't make you bad and it didn't make you good; but if you trusted your gut and followed your heart, how could you ever go wrong? Some things were clear cut and others weren't, but this was not one of those situations.

He couldn't allow her to die for him.

Naruto straightened from his crouch and soothed himself by listening to the windy gusts of Kurama's level breathing. He knew Kurama and him were of a mind; Kurama had siblings too. He also had a deep understanding of the darker emotions and agreed to lend his power against Cerberus when the time was right.

The Arena was quiet. Nobody stirred or made a noise in the Pens. A silent audience gathered as the bloody girl was paraded up the stairs and dropped on her knees in front of Miranda. Odin made his way forward, ratty uniform fairly hanging off of him and showing the roping tattoo's he hadn't had time to finish spreading on his chest. One eye glowed a satanic red, the other had slowly orbiting circles in a purple background. Naruto could see the wisps of the girl; they showed him a strong independent spirit, a defiance that would never end, and a soul of loyal fire. She hated fiercely, she loved fiercely, she fought fiercely, and she would kill anything that stood in her way.

And they'd never see her coming. Clearly he'd gotten better in reading the wisps. This girl had so much to offer and he refused to believe that saving her from that madman earlier in the Pens was the wrong thing to do. He refused to believe that it was right that she be punished just to prove a point...or get him to reveal his powers-powers he didn't have.

Naruto came to stop in front of the twenty-foot wall separating him from Miranda, Angel-face, and Dr. Angersol. Miranda stared at him with what seemed to him to be a deep loathing. It was odd. Miranda's wisps told him a strange story; regret and sadness. Red, blue, and a deeper red wisp he only associated with a deep loathing.

Miranda pulled out a gun and put it up against the girls matted, bloody hair. Hair that still gleamed with a golden light of its own. Naruto looked her in the eyes and at that moment, the girl looked nothing so much as irritated. He quirked a smile at her and she simply glared back. So, Naruto switched his gaze to Miranda and in that moment he understood what he needed to do. Kurama instantly objected.

_Naruto, you can't-you won't-gah. This is idiocy! Can you even react fast enough to make it work? _But Naruto was calm and determined. A monk never wavered in their faith, right? They asked the hard questions, but never lost faith-and when a demonstration of that faith was required, they would set their very selves on fire to see their path through. So said their scripture anyway.

The Kyuubi's response was fast in coming, '_But you aren't even a full monk! I can't REPAIR that! IF you do this, and it doesn't _work_ you'll _die_.'_

"Kurama, if I die...they lose. You'll be released and you'll wreck the shit out of their whole facility, thereby achieving my purposes anyway." The small smile he had on his face was peaceful, calm.

The eye of the storm.

Kurama's frustration with Naruto's arrogance was boiling in the back of his mind and if he had seen the representation of that frustration in his mindscape, it would have resembled nothing more than a massive hurricane buffeting the Temple of Fire. Their conversation was interrupted by the leader of the facility, Miranda spoke in a measured tone, "Subject Odin. We at Cerberus have saved you from certain destruction on your home planet. We have empowered you-raised you up even further than you were-and have given you your life. All we asked in return was that you help us raise up the rest of humanity; give us the gift of Fire like Prometheus of old. You have refused and thrown our offer back in our face. I am very sorry to have to do this….but if you do not give us something to work with as you promised, I will be forced to start killing one subject an hour until you become more amenable to our reasonable demands." Sudden, sharp banging on the glass behind Naruto was ignored by everyone except the soldiers. Some entered the Pens and the banging stopped after a minute.

Naruto palmed his kunai and took in its perfect sharpness, not acknowledging her words. The kunai was one of his Dad's inactive hiraishin kunai; he'd given both of his kids one as a memento when they reached Kushina-approved proficiency with kunai. It seemed fitting as his dad's weapon would free him. Naruto looked back up to Miranda and the Angel, as he'd been calling her in his head, and slid the kunai point first under the collar. Blood leaked down the hollow of his throat in rivulets as he sliced into his neck and positioned the blade against a joint in the collar with one hand. The other hand dipped two fingers into the blood and moved to rest against his tattoo's on his left arm. Miranda's eyes widened, riveted on the blade against his collar, and the rock-steady arm she used to hold the gun up wavered slightly. The girl gaped with unbelieving eyes.

They understood what would happen if he cut the collar. Boom.

Naruto spoke and his voice carried, "I have nothing in this world with which I value except my own life. My people are gone, you abduct me and torture me, then expect me to dance. _I will not_. I'm young, but my people are trained to fight from as young as five. I will _not _bow," Naruto's voice got deeper and angrier as he kept speaking, almost yelling, "and I would rather kill myself than see another die because of my mistakes!"

Naruto channeled a blaze of chakra, blood lighting up his whole arm with energy, and the kunai sliced through his collar.

One second.

At the same time, Naruto pulled as hard as he could on the Demon's faint presence; a presence he felt he could sense out of the corner of his eye. He'd felt it hovering there ever since activating his eye. Naruto wasted no time, Kurama fed him a blazing tail of chakra and he threw a massive surge of his own energy in setting the Rinnegan to flashing and rotating rapidly as he pulled the Demon Statue, a little frayed edge in the fabric of his mind, out of the warp and woof of the flows of chakra. Reality bent and a curtain of energy peeled back as he felt the growing presence traveling towards him.

Two seconds.

Miranda replaced him in the collars sharp embrace a microsecond later, Naruto appearing amongst the cluster of soldiers. Everyone hadn't even realized Miranda had replaced Odin in the collars sharp embrace as microsecond later she glowed blue, desperately reaching for her biotics, but the anti-tampering explosive went off in spectacular fashion anyway, painting the middle of the Arena with shards of bone, gray bits of brain, and a gallon of blood reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock.

Three seconds.

All hell broke loose as Naruto became a fox in the henhouse, red chakra bubbling around him. A wormhole twenty-feet across was swirling like a whirlpool as a colossal grey-brown arm, like the bark of an unhealthy tree, started emerging.

**ANGELA**

As Angela tried to process the last twenty seconds, realizations came at a rapid rate. Odin was fucking crazy; he was going to kill himself so that Angela wouldn't be harmed; foolish and naive but a nice gesture. No, he didn't wasn't killing himself, he was using his powers to kill Miranda. Shit her head _exploded_. That rocked. This kid was nuts, but she'd follow him _anywhere _after this. The next thought though was sobering; they were in deep shit and needed to escape.

Angela shifted in pain as she realized she needed to act. There were three soldiers around her; she could handle that.

Angela dove for the gun Miranda had dropped and scrambled to get her hands around the handle. One soldier covered in orange tech armor came at her unprotected back with a sparking, black baton as she lie prone. She flipped around, swinging the gun into a low forty-five degree angle as she unloaded a four seperate shots into his head, shields sparking and dying as the fourth shot broke it; a low-pulse knocked her prone as she realized she'd broken through. But being on her ass didn't make any difference.

Angela channeled her, admittedly low, amount of biotic power and hit the guy in the chest with a warp/throw combo that sent him sailing twenty feet over the balcony and she lost track of him as he screamed, descending.

The newly freed subject scrambled to her feet again and took stock of the hell Teltin Facility had become.

Subject Odin, looking vicious and demonic, was swaying on his feet about ten feet away, he looked a bit out of it; however, a deep red haze had sprung up around him and two...clawed appendages….had stuck themselves through the other soldiers around him and left gaping, sizzling wounds-even though the tech armor. Those Cerberus soldiers collapsed and so too did Odin, haze winking out. She watched as he fell to his knees and vomited, again and again. Angela rushed to his side, passing the stunned Dr. Angersol, who she suckerpunched in the nuts as hard as she could as she passed. He fell to the ground and vomited, much like Odin.

He wouldn't be going anywhere.

The noise behind her, as she held the trembling Odin in her arms, drew her eye. A blue swirling portal had opened up and a nightmare was escaping; a nightmare that was weathering the assault of the four remaining active OGRE mechs. The mechs, backed up by the snipers on the catwalks, were totally focused on the eight-story tall thing coming through rather than her and Odin. Small miracles...er, big miracles?

One clawed hand braced itself against the wall her and Odin were next to and heaved the majority of its head and body out; nine-eyes looked out at the soldiers and mechs firing at it. The right hand swiped into the reinforced glass pens and shattered them like porcelain, using the rubble to brace itself and pull the demon's whole upper body out. One leg stepped over the portal like a short wall, crushing and indenting the blood-splattered floor and pulverizing what was left of the former Cerberus operative. Angela couldn't look away, but shook herself when Odin spoke quietly to her, drawing her attention.

"Hey Angel-face. Glad your still alive. I might have overdone it though." The gritted smile and blood seeping from his ears and nose told a completely different story than his upbeat tone indicated. Tears blurred her eyes and she cursed herself for her weakness; crying in front of _him _of all people. Angela was still mad at him wasn't she? For wrecking the routine, if not comfortable, life they all had? The uncertainty gnawed at her. They could still die, it didn't matter, it didn't change anything. Humans hated people like her, Tony, and Zero, didn't they? What would they make of Odin? Why did he care so much about them anyway?

"Why did you do it Odin? Why? Why not just refuse her and let me die?" Angela hit him in the arm and tried to control herself. The stupid, noble, _idiot_ boy turned away and let her wipe her eyes. Laboring to stand, he seemed to wince and as he stood, Subject Odin had a far-away look on his face as he gazed at the statue and the mayhem below.

With tear tracks no longer staining her face, she gathered her courage and stood next to him, remembering that they still had to figure out how to get rid of their collars without blowing up like Miranda. Angela absently noted Odin was at least three inches taller than her and less frail-looking than she had thought. He smelled like blood. She missed him whispering a name under his breath.

"What was that?" Angela said, frowning. Odin looked at her with his one strange, mesmerizing eye and said clearly, "The Gedo Mazo. My protector...and I suppose the reason I survived in the first place. He only answers to those that bear my eye; my curse." She noted the spinning had stopped in the eye and it started to fade. Angela fairly saw the exhaustion settle on him, vomit still cling a bit to his chin. Her hand moved without realizing it and wiped it away, wiping her own hand on her bloody jumpsuit. A blush rose like a rash on her face and she looked away. _WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?_

Odin just looked absurdly grateful.

The two subjects, lost in their own thoughts, were interrupted by the Gedo Mazo blasting what looked like lances of blue plasma straight through the mechs, who stopped, stuttered, and collapsed-cut in twain and sliding forward exposing fiery, destructed inner workings. The concentration of fire from the snipers hitting the eyes and fanged mouth of the demonic thing did absolutely nothing. What Odin had named the Gedo Mazo launched what looked like dragons colored biotic-blue that roared across the bloodbath in the Arena and struck the soldiers, grayscale silhouettes of the soldiers ripping themselves out of the armor. The fair dozen victims dropped like puppets with their strings cut. The surviving soldiers who had taken refuge behind the pillars and existing cover were quickly murdered by the dozens of subjects that poured out of the now-broken pens. Angela unconsciously grabbed Odin's arm as she waved to Tony and Mark who had eyes only for the two of them. A groan from the good doctor behind them drew their attention.

The bloodbath the day had turned into, ushered in the New Year unbeknownst to the residents of Teltin Facility. It would go down as the worst day of doctor Angersol's life.

**NARUTO: ODIN**

Some time later, Naruto was introduced to the majority of the inmates; only three dozen had remained after the last purge. The big lanky teenager who'd thanked him was named Tony and he preferred Beast, the little rat-faced kid was Mark, aka. Rat, and the Ice Queen and current strongest, 'biotic' (he was guessing that was a user of the wild energy currently mixing in his body) was named Subject Zero, or Zero. They'd all warmed up to him after they saw him kill Miranda, even Zero-who flat out stated she had thought he was a weak ass pussy without any real powers. He just raised an eyebrow at her as they tried not to look at the elephant in the room; the big-ass demon statue that had effectively wiped out the Cerberus presence in this wing. The rinnegan had deactivated a while ago from a lack of energy; summoning the Gedo Mazo, using two techniques, dodging all those bullets, then summoning bijuu chakra, had pushed his body further than he'd ever pushed it since his...augmentations. In fact, he'd vomited after using Kyuubi's chakra and started to bleed from his ears, nose, and mouth. Kurama was worried. The mixing of the chakra and mongrel biotic energy went well; they were as one now, but bijuu chakra was not welcome as an additive. The 'nodules' he was told were in his body, and the 'cybernetic' implants, did not mesh well with whatever made the bijuu chakra different from regular chakra. His body had started to rebel against massive use of the bijuu chakra. So the two of them had left it alone and attended to the real issue; escaping...and not leading all of these kids to their death.

Naruto hadn't given them his real name; he'd told them he'd forgotten it. It was a lie, but Naruto hadn't felt like explaining the depressing circumstances that had led him here and why he'd discarded it. In a very real sense, Cerberus had given birth to the new him. So he stuck with Odin.

Beast, Rat, Angel, and Zero clustered around him while Naruto sent a few of them to watch out for more Cerberus troops. Zero spoke up authoritatively, waving her hands for emphasis, "Look,, I don't know about you fuckers, but those cocksucking Cerb troopers are bound to coming running in, extra dicks swinging, any second. We need to get these fucking collars off-" Zero grabbed hers for emphasis, sticking a thumb over her shoulder at the smear on bottom of the inactive and frozen statues foot, "-before all you dicklicks, and my amazing self for that matter, end up like like that cunt on the bottom of the bigfucks foot." Naruto nodded, impressed at how many functional curse words she'd managed to sneak in-and how understandable it all was. Beast looked placid-almost vacant-before he surprised everyone by speaking thoughtfully in a posh English accent, "Pardon, but I believe I am not mistaken when I surmise that the answer to our conundrum lies with Dr. Angersol." All eyes turned to see the doctor cowering and being held by two other subjects.

"Good thought Beast, Zero-um, yeah." Here Odin floundered as he struggled to respond, Angela stepped in and helped him out, "Zero, since you're the strongest, can you watch out for more troops coming down the hall? I can't imagine it would take them long to muster a response." With Zero off doing something she excelled at, that would give them time to formulate a level-headed response to this impossible situation.

Naruto was exhausted, but regaining his chakra slowly. Luckily, he didn't need chakra to lift the asshole responsible for all of the torture in this hellhole up his eye-level. Admittedly, since Naruto was only about five feet, seven inches, the doctor overtopped him by a good two inches, he used his main strength to lift him up and look at him at an angle. Naruto smoothed his face out, blanking, and lifted his eyepatch to add to the effect of his interrogation of the doctor.

"Where is the controls for those collars?"

It didn't take long for him to spill it.

So, armed with that information, Naruto freaked everyone out by sealing Angersol into the general storage seal inked on his palm. He had to spend a minute explaining seals, and losing everyone with his explanation, before he could outline their plan of attack. The eager grins on the youthful faces, looking at him to lead, made cold sweat trickle down his spine.

He couldn't let them down.

_**CE 2176: STRIKEFORCE DELTA out from STAGING GROUND HERCULES en route to Dakka System in the Nubian Expanse; on SSV Jakarta**_

**REAR ADMIRAL KAHOKU:**

"Admiral Hackett on vidcomm, sir."

"Put him on screen."

The face that came on screen resembled nothing so much as a gnarled old oak tree who'd weathered a hundred storms-and would weather a hundred more. Age enhanced the strength present in the lines on Admiral Steven Hackett's face. The face of the man that Rear Admiral Kahoku considered to be the greatest leader in the Systems Alliance; a leader, a mentor, and most importantly-one of his greatest friends.

Steven had taken him under his wing and was responsible for him graduating Fleet Academy training, he'd been there when he'd lost his men-and drank himself into a stupor, threatening his marriage-and he'd been there when Mary had had his three beautiful children. He would do anything for this man. Add in the gift of true revenge-justice-on the people responsible for getting his platoons killed on Edolus and you might begin to understand the riot of emotions he felt when seeing his friend on the vidcomm.

Hackett's right-hand man stood to his right and a little back. He'd been attached to Kahoku's strikeforce at the request of his friend; it was a blessing as Anderson was a decorated N7 Marine and seasoned leader.

It was he who would be leading the charge into the unknown.

The New Year-2176 in the Common Era-had been greeted with an amazing amount of fanfare at their Staging Ground in the Attican Beta. The reason was simple; this mission was a strike into a relatively unknown situation. They had very little ground intel and what they _had_ found told them that there was a small contingent of Cerberus infantry and an incomplete record of hundreds of potential biotics running around. That data, however, was at least a year and a half old-who knew what they'd be walking into? He'd gotten Anderson and a contingent of N7's from Hackett's station on Arcturus to attempt to mitigate the risks to his own men; God knew that would have saved him a lot of heartache in the past.

But no matter.

The reassuring tones of his superior washed over him and Anderson both, "Greetings there Rear Admiral-I'm seeing that you are almost to the theatre. How goes things?" Kahoku smiled, not a nice smile, and said with relish, "Sir, we've crossed into the Dakka System about an hour ago and we're en route. I've made sure the marines have readied themselves. We'll breach fast and hot; I've included a few technicians to see if we can recover as much data as possible. Exposing Cerberus as a true terrorist organization will be quite a PR coup...assuming it doesn't destabilize a lot of things on the Alliance Council." Hearing this, Admiral Hackett smiled with genuine warmth, no doubt pleased at the thoroughness, before he responded to the query hidden amongst Kahoku's words. "Kahoku, we'll keep this need to know for now, so don't worry. Let us see what we uncover before we decide anything, yes? Now-" A beeping of perimeter sensors interrupted the on-screen Admiral.

"Coming up on Pragia now sir. We walked right through their early-alert detection grid. Should I establish a red-alert holding pattern, sir?" Kahoku nodded at the pilot. "...it's odd though sir, no queries or indications they even have a detection grid up." The young pilot looked up at Kahoku from where he stood, arms folded in the center of the bridge.

"I'll let you two admirable gentleman get to work. Good luck and godspeed. Keep me updated. Hackett, out." Both Anderson and Kahoku saluted and vidcomm ceased broadcasting. Anderson turned immediately to the Rear Admiral and spoke quietly, "Sir, it's possible its a trap."

The commander of the SSV Jakarta-and the strikeforce-looked deep in thought, one hand stroking his salt-and-pepper goatee. His dark eyes came up to meet Andersons. "I think we'd have seen some response if they'd realized we were here. Pragia is not known for it's welcoming nature towards government ships. They'd have swarmed us by now." Indecision made creases appear on the face of Anderson's immediate commander, but hardened into determination before he even registered it. It might have been a trick of his mind.

"I'll send a frigate to provide close air support and we'll drop you and your boys in to gut the bastards." Kahoku straightened from where him and Anderson conferred, and spoke quickly to his communications officer, "Announce the operation; codename Treasure Planet."

A calm, female voice rang out across all decks of all ships in the small coterie, "All military personnel to battle stations; all combat personnel to their respective hangars for operation commence; I repeat…"

"Launch!"

From there, Kahoku watched Anderson sprint away towards the hangar. He turned back to watch on his viewscreen as two smaller Alliance frigates continued into Pragia's atmosphere to punch holes in the facility's seemingly inactive air defenses. Eight UDT Kodiaks launched from the suborbital frigates and made their way down to strike the first of hopefully many blows against the shadowy behemoth that was Cerberus.

Kahoku smiled.

**NARUTO**

Dr. Angersol head slammed into a console with many, many buttons into it. It probably hurt-though it wasn't chakra enhanced. He didn't care. In fact, Odin pushed harder, grinding the buttons into Angersol eye and hearing multiple yelps. Judging from the amount of struggling the merely human scientist was doing, Naruto might as well have been holding down a baby for all the good he was doing himself.

"I will NOT repeat myself again. You know what deactivates the collars, those stupid employees of yours didn't press the button-so there _must_ be a way to invalidate them. Do it. NOW. Or we get messy." A kunai, puffing into existence in his palm, pressed into the back of Angersol's skull. One hand held the back of his neck, the other held the knife.

Angel, Beast, and Rat watched him from inside the control room. The other subjects and Zero were out holding the base's long hallway against about fifty of those damn soldiers. She hadn't been wrong when she said it wouldn't take long for them to respond-the faceless Cerberus troops had killed ten of the subjects before they could retaliate. Zero herself threw up a shield that was floor to ceiling and kept them at bay while Naruto, Angel, and Beast stormed the control room; a room that was conveniently positioned at the meeting of the Arena, crew quarters, and long hallway that separated the two halves of the facility.

Sad, pathetic weeping aside, Naruto was getting annoyed. He pressed the kunai harder, drawing a bead of blood. Angersol moved at that, hands a blur as he activated some console commands. Tears mixed with snot as his face started to look like the child Naruto had always commented he'd looked like; luckily, though, he might've acted like a child, but he wasn't sneaky enough to do anything underhanded-like activate the collars. It probably hadn't even occurred to him in his panic.

With a final click, Angersol collapsed in a sobbing heap, sliding off his chair and on to the floor. Angel kicked him once in the spine. Beast rumbled disapproval and Rat just looked about to piss himself. Naruto gave Angel a look and she subsided. He then resealed the good doctor in his storage seal and straightened from his crouch.

Beast volunteered to rip his off first with a ferocious yank that crumpled the metal contraption. The muscles and veins stood out as he pried it off like it wasn't made of some mysterious alloy probably a dozen times denser than an un-chakra reinforced kunai. Naruto would hate to take a punch from him.

Rat and Angel looked away, cringing, but nothing happened. And so the rest of the subjects, after Naruto explained things, took to ripping their collars off. It hurt like a physical pain to see the unbridled joy in their eyes from being freed. Their gratitude, though, made the hole in his heart heal just a little bit.

Joy was first, but anger second.

The next step, and the part that all of them relished, was taking back the facility and getting the fuck off the planet. Where they would go, and how they would get there, was up for debate...but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. Naruto ordered all of them to move out to support Zero, who'd been holding a barrier for about fifteen minutes. He was surprised when they all jumped to obey-moving like seasoned warriors. Warriors in formation.

When Zero heard them coming up behind her, she turned her head, "What the fuck took you bitches so long? Do I have to do everything?" The shit-eating grin took the bite out of her words. Naruto grinned back and ripped the collar off before she could say anything. He almost laughed at the sheer outrage on her face...till she realized she was free. The angry scowl turned into a genuine smile in a second. It really was a beautiful smile.

Zero had the kind of looks only a model possessed-though she wasn't as perfect-looking as Angel-she had the kind of face that made her very, very hard to forget. Those dark eyes held both a depth of personality he hadn't realized, and a wealth of pain she was trying to forget. Angel and Zero were like opposites; one as a light as the other was dark. Of course, both had filthy mouths. Odin had to laugh.

"Fuck you Odin you sick son of a bitch!" Naruto hid his laugh behind his hand; he winked at Rat and Beast out of the corner of his eyes. "Shut your mouth Zero; don't you want to lay waste to these assholes? Why are you wasting time? We're giving you right of first blood."

She said nothing more and the soldiers that waited for them beyond the barrier let out multiple shouts as they realized the barrier was about to come down. The foolishly had only erected minimal cover; those puny shields that looked like they couldn't stop a child, let alone a psychotic, deeply unhinged biotic with a grudge.

It was a bloodbath.

Zero needed no urging. Naruto looked on in awe as Zero showed him what was truly possible with the energy he now possessed. She strode in, half of her uniform unzipped to expose her bra and all of her midriff, and almost instantaneously enveloped with blood. Armor split like ripe fruit and the soldier underneath were pulverized into meat and bone and blood. The psycho painted the walls with the blood of two dozen soldiers armed with only pistols and batons. The hallway was long, branched in multiple directions, but she strode them methodically-the rest of them covered her-as they fled towards the hangar and hopefully, safety.

Ten minutes had passed after they began their assault. Naruto stood in the high-ceilinged doorway that led into one of many of the tiny hangars that dotted the facility. Massive crates gave natural barricade points and he set two biotic guards there each-they maintained a barrier. Zero was with Naruto as they stood watch at the main entrance. Thirty seconds ago they had felt explosions occurring overhead, explosions that rocked the facility. A steady stream of Cerberus troops fell to Zero and Naruto at the main entrance, Angel and Beast reported similar casualties at the back entrance, but it had cut off seconds ago. It made them worried. It was a little while after the explosions started, and that meant another invader.

Zero spoke, uncharacteristically sober, "I won't let myself be taken again Odin, understand? I just won't." Quiet fear and anger laced her voice. This new invader changed things for them. Odin knew he could never understand what she went through-just a month of torture for him compared to what was probably years for her-for all of them; Angel, Beast, and Rat included. All of them would die before they became slaves again.

Naruto included.

So they waited. And waited. Occasionally they heard rifle fire and the screams of Cerberus troops, but nothing from the, 'other side'. The silence was the worst. It became silent not long after they switched their guards around; maintaining a full-strength barrier was apparently tiring. Zero looked askance at Naruto when he told her he didn't know how to make a barrier with biotics. Her eyes popped when he made one from his blood and some hastily scrawled fuuin. It glowed a purple-black and Zero couldn't stop asking him questions...she threw around the word, 'magic'. Naruto was insulted. He wasn't a fucking wizard; and so he told her he was a ninja.

She didn't get it. Odin stopped trying to explain it.

All of them froze when an unfamiliar voice come over the loudspeaker. "Attention victims of Cerberus, I am Colonel Anderson with the Systems Alliance Marines. You'll be happy to note all Cerberus forces have been neutralized and the base is secure." Naruto deactivated his fuuin and stepped out into an empty hallway, he turned to face Zero and Angela who had just walked up, looking concerned.

"Odin, don't just walk out there like an idiot!"

Naruto looked insulted, he frowned at Angel. Zero just shrugged.

"I'll be fine, I need to see what we're dealing with." He spoke in an attempt to soothe her. She'd been by his side ever since he'd saved her and proved invaluable while he tried to establish order amongst their little band. Angela and Zero were his lieutenants, Rat was an electronic wizard, and Beast was his muscle. The rest weren't as healthy or combat-capable. This meant barrier-duty, of which they rotated out every twenty minutes.

An hour or two had passed like this and they'd quickly realized in a fruitless search of the hangar, that there were no ships to be had-or at least none he'd been told were capable of 'interstellar travel.' That meant these people had that capability and they needed a way off Pragia.

But deadly-looking soldiers of a type he'd never seen before were headed their way along the hallway that Zero had painted like a mural with the blood of their captors. Totally encased head to toe in sleek-look black armor, all of the soldiers in the platoon had a big N7 tattooed in red along their arms. A maybe thirty-something black officer, judged so by his fancy clothes-only covered by body armor-marched at their head. Formation was crisp and they walked in lock-step carrying deadly-looking weapons pulsing with energy.

Honestly, Naruto recalled looking at Jonins the same way. These were _true_ warriors. None of them had a scratch dinging their beautiful armor. A slight cape made itself known on each soldier, belted around their legs half-way, swaying as they walked.

They screamed, "DO NOT FUCK WITH." Most of them started glowing as they approached, the same blue as Zero, as Angel, and Beast when he got sufficiently pissed. Naruto himself had done well against chump Cerberus soldiers, but he was a little uncertain when faced with these graceful and, he reminded himself, possibly hostile warriors. Naruto tensed and unsealed his kunai.

Naruto, still covered in blood and much and who knows what else, made his way towards the unknown group. He was very much aware of how he looked; young, covered in blood, one eye behind a patch, the other fixed on them, with bar-codes, tattoo's, scars, and wielding knives...well, it didn't set a good first impression.

But he'd take it.

Naruto stopped ten feet from the officer. The officer halted as well, his soldiers following suit without needing a signal. At this, he could almost feel Zero and Angel tensing behind his back, further down the hallway. Subject Odin, as it read on the mostly blood-stained name tag on his chest, looked the leader in the eye and spoke as neutrally as he could, "The base is yours; but we're still here. It is very much far from secure. I want to know who you are before I decide to share."

He couldn't tell what the soldiers were thinking, but the officer just looked….sympathetic, rather than defensive.

"Son, you've done a helluva job here. You should be proud. Cerberus isn't an easy enemy to fight. Frankly, I wasn't sure if we did any good-you and your band seems to have done most of our work for us." A small smile graced his features-and it wasn't even mocking.

Ugh, he fairly radiated loyalty and integrity.

"My name, as I'm sure you heard, is Anderson-I represent the Systems Alliance. We got word from our sources that Cerberus had picked up something vital on another planet and shipped it here. When we heard they were using captured subjects for experiments on Alliance citizens….well, we pulled the cavalry together and here we are." The man called Anderson shook his head in sadness and continued, "It looks like we came a little too late...but the least we can do is get all you kids settled somewhere. What do you say? How many of you are there anyway?"

Naruto took it all in and concluded a few things; Anderson might be genuine, but who was to say the Alliance was? Also, someone had leaked information on the facility and Odin-enough, apparently, to bring the Alliance running to their rescue.

He needed to confer with everyone, but maybe, just maybe, the Alliance was better than Cerberus. Naruto might be able to see these kids home. First, he needed to see if Anderson was true to his word.

Naruto stepped forward and folded his arms, "Anderson is it? I'm going to need you to show a little trust in me for me to show my trust in you. I think that's fair. Will you come with me and talk to my group-alone?"

To the man's credit, he didn't even hesitate.

After letting Naruto and his 'guest' in through the barriers, Naruto and his friends huddled together in a corner to listen to what Anderson had to say. It seemed too good to be true.

"Look, I can't imagine what happened here-or what you kids have been through-but believe it or not, there is actually a place you all can go." He paused here and looked them all in the eye.

"I assume most of you are biotic-capable? And maybe experienced awful treatment because of it?" Nods dotted the room; Naruto could relate. The Rinnegan was not something normal people understood.

"A good friend of mine, her names Kahlee Sanders, well she's putting together an Academy for Gifted kids like you all. The Jon Grissom Academy for the Gifted. See, the Alliance had a failed program in place for biotics a while ago and we didn't do right by the kids there. The Alliance now joined runs the facility for both our biotics-" He waved a hand indicating the soldiers Naruto had seen out in the hall, "-and regular people who just want to learn to control their gift." Kurama and Naruto had the exact thought at the same time; _teach us to control it? _They need this desperately.

"I'll understand if you all just want to be left alone; but if you come with us, we'll give you the option of either going to Grissom or Earth-we'll help you find your families. I think that's the least we can do." The youngest son of the Hokage turned to see his people as the whispering started in earnest.

"What do you say?"

Naruto had to cut this off before it went any further. He stepped up next to Anderson and projected his voice. "This is a tempting offer Anderson, I think most of the people here will take it. But as for me? I want vengeance on Cerberus. I will come with you if you do something for me-to show me how serious you are."

Shocking everyone, Naruto grabbed two of the captured Cerberus soldiers they'd been holding and dragged them into the spotlight and circle where everyone waited (minus the ones on guard). He dropped them there and watched them struggling against their bonds.

Without warning, Naruto viciously stabbed one in the throat with a lightning quick strike, letting the blood soak his hands.

"See, I'm not coming with until you seal this deal in blood. I'm the one that Cerberus wanted more than anything else-and I won't let myself be suckered into anything without a guarantee." Here Naruto paused. "Strongest guarantee I know is written in blood-don't you agree?"

Even Kurama was silent.

Who knew how much Naruto had changed in the last two months? Kurama had to suppress a smile at all the dark emotion swirling in his host.

Zero smiled to see it. Angela wore a face as implacable as stone. Beast didn't look fazed either. Anderson's face went blank as he watched the soldier bleed out as the mood shifted. Blood had been shed and Naruto wanted a guarantee-a guarantee that everybody couldn't blame him for. Suddenly, Anderson's answer would be the difference between a biotic riot on his hands and a total coup for the Alliance. Two dozen biotics and the destruction of a key Cerberus base.

Naruto sweetened the deal for him by unsealing Dr. Angersol, still weeping. "I'll even give you the Cerberus scientist with access to _everything._" Angry muttering swept the room. Anderson's face was still blank.

Until he got up and gestured for someone to pull the still struggling soldier upright. He holstered his pistol, placed it against the soldiers head, and fired.


	5. Chapter 4: Bonds, Branches, and Debriefs

**A/N: Hey everybody!**

**Back again I see...well, hopefully this chapter won't disappoint! That being said, it was the easiest chapter to write thus far. I have no idea why, seeing as how there is quite a bit going on...**

**...anyway, I'm curious as to what my loyal readers and reviewers are reading these days in terms of novels. I just read Brandon Sanderson's, "Words of Radiance." Kaladin is such a BAMF I can't even. I have to admit, it made me want to write a Naruto story involving Windrunners and Skybreakers and Voidbringers, oh my! :) **

**Let's see...I also really love Will Wright's, Travelers Gate series. That is definitely my next crossover. Naruto as a Traveler of Valhalla. I would love to see someone try to write a crossover of those two! **

**Anyway, onward and upward. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Branches, Bonding, and Debriefs  
**

"_This is the true joy in life — being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy._"

~George Bernard Shaw

_**CE 2176: En Route to Elysium from STAGING GROUND HERCULES in the Attican Beta; aboard SSV Jakarta**_

**Naruto Namikaze**

The sequence of events began the way it always had, ever since him and his merry band of delinquents had begun their new lives aboard the SSV Jakarta. Naruto Namikaze-Odin to the people around him-had tried his hardest to hold off on sleep, but the human body-especially given what he'd gone through-couldn't hold out for long against Morpheus' tight grip.

As per usual, Naruto was standing on the thoroughfare of Konohagakure-arguably greatest and freest of the Hidden Villages-and was watching the happy, bustling, _life_ move around him like a stream breaks around a rock. They didn't notice him. Naruto kept looking, drinking in the sights he'd probably never see again. The main street lead straight to the Hokage Tower in the center of the village, abutted by the various districts and the Hokage's Mansion. The Clan sectors were on the other side, divided according to the Treaty signed way back during the Warring Clans era. Naruto _had_ paid some attention to his history lessons.

To his far right was the rising rocks of Hokage mountain. The four faces stared back at him, judging-weighing. Naruto turned away from their watching eyes and started walking. He noticed, while walking, that he lacked his myriad scars, was older, and had two functioning eyes. It had been quite a long time since he'd had his original eye that he'd forgotten how different his vision actually was with Kurama's replacement; colors were different, less bright, and his perception seemed a tad off. He couldn't put his finger on it. Naruto simply shrugged and moved on, passing stores he'd frequented many times with Kushina. Clothing stores, grocers, speciality shops, and restaurants all advertised-some with flashing signs, some not. Everything seemed at once smaller and yet bigger to him; the buildings several stories larger than he remembered.

Naruto couldn't make out the buzz of conversation-strange-as he was right in their faces and they didn't seem to see him. But he chalked it up to the nature of this, whatever this was, and continued-inexorably drawn to the tower that dominated the commercial center of Konoha.

Why was he here?

Naruto had no idea, but his flesh started pebbling-gooseflesh stood out on his arms and he felt the skin on his back tighten. A roiling feeling in his gut struck him as he continued to look around-absolutely nothing was out of place. Naruto started to run, desperately sending chakra to his legs. He remained mundane-slow. His muscles burned as he sprinted. He was weak again-no, weaker. Warnings grew in his mind as he felt a small breeze pick up and whip his long red hair around into his face, briefly obscuring everything. When he peeled it off his face, the doom he'd sensed viscerally seemed to broadcast across the crowds. Naruto stopped, turning around slowly as he felt the immense, god-like really, amounts of energy pushing, tearing, ripping through the air towards him. It felt like a small moon descending on him. Seeking him personally.

The youngest son of the Hokage, the Last Namikaze, turned to look and his eyes took in the screaming, scrambling people trying to escape the white nothingness that hungrily ate up buildings, people, _children_-

-and Naruto only heard the roar of the blast, like a thousand souls screaming up from the depths of hell before he saw his whole village obliterated piece by agonizing piece. Naruto watched a mother shield her small daughter, a father realize the futility of running and sheltered in an alleyway to kiss his wife for the last time. The awful whiteness advanced on him. Naruto saw behind it, towering above even the mountains, the vengeance-bound divine being known only as the Shinju. The white void reached him and pain beyond anything he'd felt yet; like his soul being ripped out of his chest, consumed him. His vocal chords tore as incoherent sounds split through him as his very self boiled and dissolved.

Miranda, Dr. Angersol, Madara Uchiha, and the Illusive Man were swirling shadows in the agony, laughing and mocking his powerlessness and-

-that was a new bit-

-Naruto woke up, soaked in sweat and tears, screaming at the top of his lungs.

_**CE 2175 Milky Way, Horsehead Nebula, Anadius, Cronos Station: **_

_**Thirty Minutes After the Destruction of Teltin Facility**_

**The Illusive Man**

Rage such as he'd never known_ in his life_ suffused the elusive leader of the paramilitary organization known only as, 'Cerberus'. The hard-etched lines of his face were red and splotchy, anger making its way up his neck to cover his face with color. Careful machinations he'd spent _years_ cultivating had fallen down around his ears. It was almost a physical thing beating in his chest and in his ears.

The empty, private rooms of the Illusive Man overlooked the cold and dying red supergiant star Anadius. Naturally, nobody was present to witness the ever-cool, ever-calm leader slamming his fist repeatedly onto the arm of his chair, slightly denting the metal. Unable to adequately vent the violent energy he felt, he swept himself up and out of his chair to pace, hands clenching and unclenching in his hair.

The problem was both one of immediacy and one of sheer scale. It was as bad as it could possibly be; he'd received word that Miranda Lawson was dead, their Head of Science for both Phoenix and Odin projects, Dr. Angersol, was dead or missing, four hundred soldiers were mercilessly cut down by either Alliance or the subjects they'd watched over, and those countless test subjects gone without a trace, and that wasn't the worst part. The facility itself, Teltin, was _gone_; slagged to fiery ruins by Alliance mass accelerator cannons and all of his research had been _taken_. But it wouldn't be so bad if they hadn't also taken his prizes; Odin and Subject Zero.

Subject Zero was not as big of a problem; it was Odin. Odin was something they'd never, ever seen before. Plans had materialized around him that accelerated every time table he'd ever created. He represented the Illusive Man's magnum opus; the true elevation of humanity to god-like heights. With one sweep he could've propelled all of their plans light-years ahead and commenced with his final plan; his final solution, and cemented his tenuous hold over the Systems Alliance parliament through the Terra Firma party.

It was shattered now.

He'd armed the Virginia-born political dissident Michael Moser Lang with a Locust submachine and commanded him to assassinate the United North American States President, Enrique Aguilar. Lang was captured and Cerberus was directly implicated; how or why he'd squealed was impossible to say-the man knew Cerberus could reach him everywhere. How could he-why would he-? There was no way to have known-

The Illusive Man stopped and punched the empty air once, then twice, perfect hair flying in disarray, as he resumed pacing furiously.

-no way to have anticipated the Alliance catching on to the plot, not fast enough to have _known _it would be coming. A Locust was more than powerful enough to breach the kinetic barriers of the stage...to his knowledge, that was the only active deterrent in place to prevent assassination-besides the obvious. It was sloppy and stupid.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Cerberus was implicated and now the Alliance was on high alert. On top of that, they had discovered one of his most important bases-HOW? With that one discovery, and the chain of events connecting and rippling, they were sent reeling back from all of their most important, and secret, plots-most especially the ones on Earth. Terra Firma, their political front, as well as their front corporations like New Dawn Pharmaceuticals, Eldfell-Ashland Energy, etc, all of them had to distance themselves from known Cerberus sympathizers lest they be uncovered by an Alliance witch-hunt.

Years of work, gone. But all was not lost.

The Citadel Council would never unilaterally outlaw them as they didn't think mere humans a threat-nor did they take the word of the Systems Alliance at face value. Those godforsaken aliens would never take Cerberus seriously...which gave them room to breathe and maneuver. It was very, very ironic. It made him smile just a little bit. This damage, extensive as it was, was only limited to the human side of things which, given the way events were unfolding, was only a short time away from exploding. The inevitable, and continual, snubbing of humanity would not be tolerated by humans much longer.

The innate arrogance of Humanity, to believe we were truly the be-all and end-all of the universe was all-consuming. Of course, Cerberus believed that it truly wasn't arrogance-that we had a greater destiny in the running of things. It would be the height of stupidity not to acknowledge the overwhelming threat of extraterrestrials and the lack of preparedness for humanity to deal with that; the First Contact War showed the man, once known as Jack Harper, that fact intimately. He'd had a front-row seat to the horrors that waited for them in the darkness of true space.

The Illusive Man slowed his walk until he stood still, silently watching the dying star through his massive viewing-window. Slow flares of solar energy arced out like the tentacles of an octopus in the deep. The anger receded in him as he watched and silently he renewed his vows to himself; to never cease his vigilance in the name of humanity, to ever be the sword and shield of the light of true civilization. They would do anything and everything in the name of survival. To do aught else was to invite total annihilation and that, the leader of Cerberus decided, was totally unacceptable.

They would _not_ go quietly into the night.

A quiet sigh escaped him and he started breathing normally again, rage gone as quick as it had come upon him. He knew what he needed to do. Cerberus needed to start again, more subtle...but more bold as well. Odin was still the key to it all. If he could regain him then all the other plots would be irrelevant. They had the samples still on Minuteman, but without the man himself-well, there was something extra-special about him that they couldn't replicate yet. That would be solved in time, however. Patience was required here and when the time was right they would strike-and strike _hard_.

"Jana!"

"Sir, how can I assist you?"

The Illusive Man turned to see his ever-faithful, ever-prepared assistant enter into his chamber through the now-open door. Quick, calm, and thorough, Jana had been with him for a very long time and understood how plots needed to unfold. It was intuitive for her even though she never asked any questions. He appreciated this.

"Paul Grayson and Jiro Takagawa-" He lit a cigarette; hopefully the niacin and nicotine would calm his nerves and jumpstart his brain, "-and I need them yesterday." A second thought occurred to him and he turned back to his silently-waiting assistant. "Get me Henry Lawson as well. I have some...unfortunate…news for him. I want him to come in to see me-make him an offer he cannot refuse, yes? Oh, and send up Mr. Yakushi, as well would you? I'd like to talk to him about our new...direction."

The assistant whose features were obscured by shadow simply nodded and spoke a simple, "Of course, sir." She turned around and left, leaving Cerberus' leader to make his way back to his seat, slowly settling into it, relishing the feeling of taking back some control of the nose-diving situation.

Perhaps the newly appointed head of the science department would have more luck with the samples-would they need Odin then? He heard the door open and whisper-quiet footsteps cross the room and stop halfway. Everybody who came in, regardless of whether they had been tested extensively, would only see an empty room and a cold dying star. Precautions never hurt.

"Mr. Yakushi I presume?"

The Illusive Man turned his chair around, dropped the optic camouflage after a beat, and looked at his newly-acquired scientist. He watched as the man, a very young man at that, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, light glinting across them, and nodded in answer to his question.

"Indeed." A snake-like smile greeted the Illusive Man from the newcomer, all teeth and carefully-concealed venom; the boy was good, but not good enough to fool him, this wasn't _just another _scientist. Spy perhaps? Well, it didn't matter if you knew they were there.

Despite the eventual unpleasantness that would no doubt unfold from bringing such a snake into his organization, the leader of Cerberus could tell this would be the start of a very, very profitable friendship.

_**CE 2176: En Route to Elysium, Vetus System in the Petra Nebula, Jon Grissom Academy for the Gifted **_

**Naruto Namikaze**

After he'd screamed himself hoarse and woke up half the people he was sharing his quarters with; Beast and Rat included, he'd waved away their sleepy concerned questions and gone exploring. Kurama and him had been in awe of the simple concept that they were flying among the stars in a metal vehicle. Naruto had seen cars before-they'd started appearing shortly before Naruto had left to attend the Temple of Fire for his training. A car held four people at most though. This 'cruiser' was a vessel-a metal ship not unlike those that sailed the ocean-that held thousands of people. This was but one ship out of _hundreds_ in the arsenal of these people, this, 'Systems Alliance.' On top of that, if that wasn't enough to make Naruto feel small in the scheme of things, as a form of catharsis Naruto had insisted that the Teltin subjects all watch as the Alliance slagged the facility to the ground. And it had taken them only seconds as all of the ships opened fire with their massive cannons that spat lances of fire hundreds of feet per second.

It was mind-boggling.

His doujutsu had captured hundreds of various disparate elements that went into the weapons; those hexagonal mass-effect fields he'd been seeing a lot of, various shaping mechanisms for the hot plasma (that was the word right?), and what seemed like the base elements of Raiton energy. It was a confusing mess-but Naruto had never been more fascinated in his life. What was it made up of really? Could he duplicate the feats of energy manipulation the Alliance used? Could he do what Zero did when she wielded her energy like the hand of Kami come down among them all? What more was out there for him to learn, see, feel, and experience? It made him feel...excited. Hopeful.

These thoughts served to distract Naruto from what was really keeping him awake and wandering the massive vessel at night. A vessel, mind you, that held more people than existed in a small Hidden Village. It took a long, long time for Naruto to process it all; and he was glad for this.

Finally, as Naruto's wandering steps took him towards an area marked with an arrow and the word, "Cargo," he realized he'd been walking inexorably in this direction ever since he'd walked through the strange doors that activated without a doorknob. The door in front of him hissed open and Naruto stepped through and gazed around. The first thing he saw was the obvious, massive-ass statue lying, as if asleep, in the cavernous hangar before him.

Very few people, besides the necessary technicians, were awake and moving around-some were taking measurements of the Gedo Mazo and looking increasingly frustrated-and for that, Naruto was grateful. He would hate for them to be able to recreate this mystical thing he found himself feeling grateful towards-and hating with a burning passion. All in all, it was a very strange mix of emotions that swirled around in his mind.

Kurama was relatively silent and contemplative. Naruto gleaned a little bit from the memories of the bijuu that were strong enough for him to snag and view. One showed Kurama watching, as a small fox pup, his 'father' the Sage of Six Path, sealing the body of the Godtree into this demon. Naruto couldn't watch long as a disgruntled Kurama snatched the memory out of his mental grasp seconds into viewing it. He couldn't make out many details, just that at the corner of his vision he saw all of Kurama's brother and sisters watching with mixed emotions.

Naruto shelved the thoughts for another day. He had his own problems.

He walked the length of the statue, observing the wooden protrusions and whorls of texture as he ran his hands along it, feeling the pulsing energy inside; his very own energy in fact. This thing was what kept Naruto alive for a thousand years. It saved his life and also ruined it. What do you make of something like that? The Gedo Mazo was his to control, his to command; it was his responsibility and his curse. He'd spent a thousand years inside it and gained nothing but time. It would have to be enough, right?

Naruto had been spared for a reason. He was sure of it. Kurama and he were together in this; the last of their kind. It had to mean something. A stubborn refusal to believe in such cosmic randomness was a key trait of the Uzumakis...and his equal refusal to yield in the face of adversity, of impossible odds, was present in both sides of his family. Naruto Namikaze was definitely his mother and fathers child. As for the statue? Well, it was a legacy of both the Senju and the Uchiha-the two descendants of the first Sage-meaning that, because he had the Rinnegan, he had the potential to become the next Sage. Right?

_Potential being the key word. You have no control, you are are a _child _as of right now. _

_Thanks Kurama, 'preciate the pep-talk. Now shut your mouth._

Grumbling met his sassiness. Regardless of what the big fleabag insinuated, his potential was locked deep inside him. He needed to understand how the laws of this new, bigger universe worked before he could break them. Laws are meant to be broken right? But ultimately, this meant Naruto-as the next Sage-_could_ both summon and dismiss the statue. Anderson had almost face-planted when Naruto had demanded they bring the statue along. It was an innocent enough request, until Anderson had found out that Naruto had annihilated four experimental OGRE mech's and a host of Cerberus snipers with the demonic entity. He'd tried to tell Anderson it was just defending itself.

After that, it took a lot of cajoling.

Hence why it was stuck here taking up space. Perhaps, trying to unsummon it would be a good first step in understanding his legacy. So, Naruto ignored all the watching stares-and Angel, Zero, Rat, and Beast who walked in, well more like stumbled sleepily in-and set his Rinnegan to spinning wildly as he channeled his mixed chakra and concentrated on returning the Gedo Mazo to merely a presence in the back of his mind, waiting to be summoned. Ebony haze edged with purple streaks sprung up around him and he looked to be wielding the very darkness of space itself as he made a grasping motion with one void-covered hand and_ pulled._ The Gedo Mazo disappeared with a warping sigh of displaced air, the whole hangar suddenly very, very empty. After that, he let the energy go and turned around, exhausted-the kind of exhaustion that was bone-deep and made your eyes droop. He felt his reserves start to replenish themselves almost immediately.

An eerie silence had replaced the almost charged atmosphere of the hangar. Technicians who were working on examining the statue simply stared at him with a wariness that reminded him painfully of his time in Konoha. Apparently, he'd done something so utterly strange and unnatural that its very nature set him apart from everyone else; made him a pariah among people that should be the, 'good guys'.

Again.

It was Konoha all over again.

Suddenly he became irrationally angry. He glared and stormed away from those judging eyes...and came face to face with naked compassion staring him in the face in the form of his…friends-for what else was he to call them really? You couldn't fight side-by-side with people, fight and bleed with them, and not be friends…or at least have a deep understanding. His friends glared daggers-Zero seethed and glowed with biotic energy-at the stupid Alliance assholes gawking at him.

It killed all the anger he'd had before; what must they look like? When confronted with something you don't understand, most people recoil-only a few seek to understand with true compassion. Like Anderson. And that was why they were here, and not with Cerberus. Cerberus sought understanding in order to dominate-and break what they couldn't control.

Despite Naruto's darker urges; no doubt a result of being symbiotically grafted together with the Avatar of Hatred and Rage (Naruto snorted at the chibi-image of an angry fox-child popping up in his mindscape, Kurama got very affronted at his mental imagery), didn't mean that he forget about the larger scheme of things. The larger scheme meant they-the biotics and others with special abilities-needed to pick and choose their battles. This was not the time for petty squabbles, so Naruto shut the lid on his hurts. Monk training came in very, very useful for controlling oneself.

As Naruto walked up, Beast had such a disapproving look on his face-like the severe visage of an elderly spinster matron disciplining unruly kids-that he burst out laughing, diffusing the negative tension and drawing his friends' eyes to him. Naruto straightened with a smile and smacked Beast in his chest with the back of a hand, looking up and up and up at him, in the eyes.

"Bro, relax. They don't understand."

His smile widened and he included the rest of them, Angela and Zero especially, "...one day we'll show them there is nothing to be afraid of, yanno!" Naruto tried to inject as much optimism as he could muster. Angela threw one glacier-covered look at the cowering technicians before turning back and sighing. "Odin, you don't get it-this stuff happens all the time. I remember how it was, before I was abducted-" Her words cut off. They could all see her stiffening, but she continued, obviously on a different tack, "Point is, people hate us. We're freaks. Us biotics? We gotta stick together-all we got are each other."

Zero piped up, "Fuck those asstrolls. The jus' jealous cause' you got fancy eye-magic and whatnot."

Everyone just looked at Zero. She mock-growled at them, dark eyes flashing. A blush started to creep up her neck as they continued to stare. She finally ducked her head and started playing with a bit of machinery on a nearby bench. Naruto was baffled. Fancy eye-magic?

Rat was nodding sagely as he whisper-screamed, "F-f-f-fu_cking d-d-d-douchebags_!" right in Odin's ear.

For the second time in the last ten minutes, they all stared (Naruto was digging a pinky into his ear to regain his hearing). The shocking, stuttered epithet came from none other than the smallest, quietest, _politest_ member of their small band of miscreants; little rat-faced Marky.

Still waters apparently ran deep.

The warm glow of their laughter echoed through the halls and hangar of the SSV Jakarta as they all exited the hangar and ran into Colonel Anderson. He smiled warmly at the lot of them as he stopped short before he crashed into them.

"Ah, just the people I was looking for; all of you are looking much better. Everything going alright?" The senior officer looked at each of them in turn; Naruto could see why he was asking. Rat had regained a little healthy color and wasn't looking as thin. Beast...well, Tony was a freakin' giant, but the bags were gone from under his warm blue eyes and his face didn't look _quite _so severe and careworn as it had at Teltin-goodness knows he had looked ten years older than his fourteen years of age. Hard to believe he was fourteen as his biceps alone were the size of Naruto's face. As for Angela, she scrubbed up beautifully (shocker); her perfect, faintly luminescent skin was almost blinding-combined with her spun-gold hair and you had a vision of perfection, even at thirteen. If Angela was all light and pale colors, however, Zero was her dark compliment. Her short black hair was coming in and she had it pulled back in a small ponytail. Her faint scars were tattooed over; some Naruto had done in the last couple days, and her barcode (a barcode only she and Naruto could 'boast' about) stood out, raised and ridged, on her neck opposite the place where Naruto's had been branded.

"And…how about you Odin?" Judging by all the looks he was getting, Naruto knew that he must have looked awful; sleep was very hard to come by since the nightmares returned. Naruto came up to Anderson's nose and Tony's chest. He was tall for his age, but he was slumped and slouching. His back hurt, eyes ached, veins burned a bit from the strange mix of energy running through them, and his throat ached from screaming. The nightmares...those were the reasl problems. Naruto, ever since the incident when he was little, was no stranger to nightmares. These were new ones, ones he couldn't combat like he could the ones of his own helplessness.

He couldn't turn back time as easily as he could protect himself.

Their concern rubbed him the wrong way-he didn't know why-so he ignored the pointed looks and focused his gaze directly into the only eyes that didn't look at him like they thought he'd fall apart any second, "Sir, was there a reason you were looking for us aside from checking on us?"

In an instant, his demeanor shifted and the officer that they'd first met in Teltin returned, "Yes. Odin, we-that is, the Admirals and I, as well as some senior staff-would like to debrief you." He crossed his arms. "I'm very glad you're settled, but there are some questions we'd like you to answer...questions we're sure only you _can_ answer. I'm afraid I _must_ insist, though I know its a sensitive topic."

Kurama spoke, We_ knew this was coming kid. They aren't anything like Cerberus thus far. They _did_ rescue us. Just play along, will you?_

_I know, I know. I just...will they even believe me?_

_Go find out. Couldn't be worse than Cerberus can it?_

_True_.

Everyone was oblivious to the inner dialogue happening inside Naruto's head and, of course, everyone had known that the Alliance would want answers at some point. It was better to get it over with, so Naruto agreed. Though he did have to tell Angel to stay behind; she'd been taking this second-in-command thing a little too far since they'd left Teltin. Anyway, that left Naruto as the only one who'd even been willing to talk about what really happened at Teltin Facility. So he went.

Anderson and Naruto left the four teens where they were, at the intersection of the hangar and the main transportation hub, and moved into the nearest elevator. Anderson slapped the button for the CIC deck; what Naruto found out was a little like the brain of the cruiser. He'd never been there before as a lot of senior officers had offices on that particularly deck and it was considered safer for them to stay in the crew quarters and generally belowdecks.

They passed a massive open space with a swirling galaxy raised and hovering in the air. A lot of senior-looking officers were hovering around it and pointing. Around them were what Naruto assumed to be computer consoles; technicians, like the ones that stared at him in the hangar, were typing away furiously, intent on whatever it was they were doing. Anderson moved quickly, bypassing attempts at being waylaid by a pretty redheaded petty officer with a desperate look on her face and a datapad clutched to her chest. Naruto waved and smiled at her crushed face as she was ignored in favor of this apparently urgent debriefing. She shot him a look full of unbridled loathing. He wasn't even upset-mostly 'cause she hated him for an entirely mundane reason. Heh, he'd deserved that one and it felt good to actually _deserve _the negative attention for once.

Before he knew it, they'd swept past a dozen rooms and settled on a fancier-looking one with a nice door. It opened and sealed behind them as they marched into a darkly wood-panelled conference room-not unlike his father's office back in Konoha. Naruto ignored the twinge of pain that came with that thought and observed the other man waiting in the room. Anderson sharply saluted, full of obvious respect beyond the required, and gestured for Naruto to sit opposite the older gentleman. He sat and stared.

"Sir, it's my pleasure to introduce you to an amazing young man; may I present Subject Odin from the Teltin Facility?"

Naruto swallowed at the scrutiny from this new man. He had the bearing of Shikaku Nara, the commander of the Jonin corp. It was a casual manner that belied the sharp mind waiting beneath. "-he led the resistance and eventual overthrow of the base. On top of that, he singlehandedly defeated a great many troops in combat, dispatched the leader-one Miranda Lawson, I believe we have a file on her father Henry-and brought us a great number of hurting, biotic teenagers desperate for our help. Not to mention valuable intelligence in Dr. Angersol-the man who headed up all the atrocities and knows a great deal about things I know you are very, very interested in." Here Anderson turned from where he was standing and seated himself across from his superior and looked Naruto in the face.

"In exchange, he wants a promise we will utterly wipe Cerberus from existence. Is that a fair assessment Odin?"

Naruto swallowed again and opened his mouth to speak, but the newcomer beat him to it.

"Son, I'm willing to bet you have a real name-'Odin' has Cerberus all over it. I am Israel Kahoku, Commander of the SSV Jakarta and a Rear Admiral in the Systems Alliance Navy-what's yours?"

His dark, assessing eyes invited him to speak. And despite his willingness to leave the past behind, he spoke and didn't know why. Kurama had said, though, that honesty was the best policy here. _Battle is so much simpler, _he thought. "I was born Naruto Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze-the fourth Fire Shadow of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. As far as I know, I am the last of my kind." Something got in his eye and he had to look away.

Anderson carefully looked away, he could've been shaking his head, but Naruto was focused on the Rear Admiral who leaned forward, "Naruto-can I call you Naruto?-Never in the many years of my life have I been more proud of anyone. What you kids did...it took some real guts." He stabbed a finger at him for emphasis. "We have a saying back on Earth-maybe you have a similar one, 'all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.' You _damn sure_ did something; more than grown-ass adults twice your age have done. Biotics are people too-it isn't any different some sexual orientation or race or ethnicity-and you showed more courage and humanity than a lot of real humans. Don't ever let anybody make you feel like you aren't worth the air you breathe. Then Cerberus wins-got it?"

Naruto's experience with adults was overall positive in terms of role models; recent examples notwithstanding, but nobody-especially a complete stranger-had been so..._proud_ of the type of things he'd had to do. It sounded like Kahoku understood what had happened, what they'd had to do to survive-and not just survive, but _live_.

It was...nice.

Naruto spoke quietly, "Thank you sir. I understand."

The Rear Admiral sat back looking satisfied, "Now. We'll talk about the Cerberus thing in a bit, but I want to go through the full debriefing first. Anderson tells me that you feel up to debriefing a few of us on what happened down there? We have questions that need answers." Naruto nodded. "Good man, good man...I have a lot of questions, but I think we'll save it so you only have to answer it once-fair enough?" Naruto nodded again, breathing deep and utilizing his training to calm himself and his nerves.

Kahoku looked away from Naruto towards Anderson, "Captain, can you get Admiral Hackett on vidcomm?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. It should only be a moment Naruto, then we'll get this underway. I don't know why this reminded me-but how old are you exactly?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he struggled to think of an answer.

_Just tell them you're fourteen in a couple months...give or take a thousand years. This isn't rocket-science. _

_...you're stupid._

_Shut up._

_Tch._

"In terms of years? Well, Cerberus believed that I was put in...stasis I think the word they used is, around 1175 on your calendar. I woke up last year. So, I will be fourteen in a few months, but that's assuming you don't count the thousand years I've been asleep."

The silence was deafening.

Finally, after a minute, the Rear Admiral let out an explosive sigh and said, "Let's wait for Hackett for this; I don't know what the hell I'm going to put in the report…"

So they waited.

Turns out that Admiral Steven Hackett, who seemed like nothing more than velvet-covered steel-minus the velvet-wanted them to start from the very beginning. And as he talked, Naruto realized he had never been so intimidated before in his life as he was by the Admiral of the Fifth Fleet. These men were career-soldiers and veterans of dozens of campaigns; the scale of which Naruto couldn't even fathom. Kurama agreed with him on this point; honesty was the best defense here. He was not at all confident of his ability to lie to them, so he told them barely more than he told Cerberus, but made sure it was all one hundred percent unvarnished truth, unlike the veiled half-truths he'd given his captors.

"...my people are trained for high-speed warfare from a young age; in my case, around four. My mom started me on some of the less physically-oriented abilities unique to our clan. Nothing crazy until I got older, she'd said. Anyway, we utilize a form of energy we call chakra. It's…" Naruto paused to think, "Think of it like this; we have two ingredients and the mixture of our physical energy and spiritual energy creates what we call, 'jutsu' or techniques. We have powerful techniques with a variety of effects; from creating various elements-fire and air for instance-from nothing, to instantaneous transportation, to summoning immense beings of great strength to aid us in battle. That's the simple version." The blueish, hovering image of Hackett-a hologram he'd been told-was silent, as was the rest of the room. Kahoku made notes, the sound of his pen on old-fashioned paper the only sound.

Naruto continued, "Anyway, my people are gone...wiped out and I don't know what happened really." Not a total lie. "Cerberus was the one to find me when I came out of stasis. I used my abilities to escape them for a time, but they managed to catch me when I had a...moment of weakness." Naruto swallowed hard and looked away, "I was stunned to find my planet was a wasteland...they caught me after that." His jaw tightened and the other men could hear his teeth grinding. It took him a second to continue. "I tried to break out when I realized what they were after...the danger...but I had just come out of a thousand-year stasis and so much shit had happened, one after the other. I couldn't...I wasn't…"

Naruto stopped.

Admiral Hackett spoke up with quiet strength, "I think I speak for us all when I say I _cannot imagine_ how you must be feeling son. Take all the time you need. These memories are like snakebite; you can't let them sit and fester. Best to draw it out and get rid of it." Naruto traced the wood-paneling with his eyes. The old guy made sense.

"...they agreed to let me go in exchange for samples of my blood and demonstrations of what I could do; said they'd give me something in return, but before I knew it they'd strapped me down, flayed my skin off my body and I blacked out...for a time." Naruto looked at all three of them in turn, pinning them with his one good eye. "I heal fast. Faster than they ever believed possible. So the torture continued for almost a month straight when they found out I could take more and more punishment." Naruto spoke in a monotone here. "I woke up and I was Odin-their one-eyed God of War and I swore I would break them. Grind them into dust. Better to focus on something positive right?" He gave them a ghastly grin, mostly canines and ill-temper. They weren't even phased by the obvious instability inherent in his expression. "But unbeknownst to them, they messed with my powers...introduced this dark energy into my veins...and where before I had a chakra pathway system that functioned with streams of energy, I have an ocean. An ocean I can't control worth shit." He laughed, "I'm half-biotic and half-chakra user...but I'm not any good at either." The youngest person in the room shook his head, "Problem was? I couldn't do my techniques the same way I'd been taught, those dumb-asses messed with me too much. See, the energy you guys use operates without the spiritual component. So, I found out the hard way that the rules are different now. It seems _science_ and _belief_ are the keys."

Naruto had to laugh here; this people he'd found, while rummaging through their library when not wandering around and trying to sleep, was not big on mixing the spiritual with the scientific.

"Cerberus didn't buy that I couldn't give them what they wanted...so they had me tortured again, I was thrown in the, 'pens' with the rest of the subjects. That's where I met all the kids out there-whoever is left." He took a sip of the water they provided him and continued, "Miranda, that bitch that she was, forced me into a corner and I seized the only chance I had when she tried to use Angela as a hostage. I used my abilities to switch places with Miranda right as my explosive collar went off-and pop! We were as free as the bitches head." Naruto demonstrated using both his hands to make a crude approximation of a head coming off, complete with sound-effects; nobody laughed.

"I used my remaining strength to summon the protector, uh you...er..._had_ in your hangar and it broke the Pens open on my orders. From there we slaughtered everyone and took over the hangar. And now here we are. Cavalry rides in and you have yourself a Grade-A gen-u-ine alien badass in your debt-assuming you all hold up your end. _Which you will._"

Nobody missed the emphasis.

Naruto sat back and watched them all look at each other. He had to give them one thing; they had great poker-faces. Not like Uncle Obito who taught him and Izuna-who were fairly young at the time-to play Hoshigaki Hold 'Em. Naruto had cleaned Obito out and Izuna had made a big fuss about _fairness_. Pussy. Obito was a good sport though, even though Dad had given him D-ranks for a week. Kushina opted to use the infamous Thousand Years of Pain technique to great effect, he'd been told.

Obito's ass had been sore for a week.

But just because they were good at keeping their feelings to themselves didn't mean Naruto didn't know what they were thinking, it was only simply logic really. Naruto was in their debt and they knew it. He had nothing to gain by lying as they had Dr. Angersol to back the story up. Simply put; he was now an asset to be molded. Whether they earned his undying loyalty or not was up to them. Cerberus and the Alliance, though very, very different in means and ends, had almost the same approach to the importance of certain assets. And Naruto was a very important asset. V.I.A.

These three particular men seemed like hard men-honorable-but hard. Without exception (maybe not Anderson, but he wasn't sure), they saw a young teen. When Naruto had told them he was the last of his kind and he didn't have access to his powers, he saw the brewing thoughts derail in their faces-where before he was a military asset, he was now just a child struggling to find peace. Far from the truth. It was time to make a deal they couldn't refuse. Naruto had come this far and still didn't have any idea what he was doing or find any real purpose. That needed to change and since it looked like they were about to dismiss him, he went in for the kill.

"I want to join the Alliance military. I'll give you all the information, blood samples, and whatever other crap you want, but I have two non-negotiable conditions."

Two Alliance higher-ups and one Captain leaned forward as Naruto talked.

_**July 16th, 2176 CE, N7 Graduation Ceremony at the Interplanetary Combatives Academy in Rio de Janeiro, 3:14 PST**_

**Kai Leng**

Beneath the shadows of the massive, but beautiful, arcologies that dotted Vila Militar-the premier academy for the Alliance military arts-Kai Leng picked his way across the parade grounds where the Graduation ceremony had been held moments before. Kai wore his dress uniform, emblazoned with a brilliant red and black N7. He wore it proudly. In fact, his personal mission these last few years was to reach this moment so he could finally-finally-bring the fight to the alien scum lurking in the universe as the tip of humanity's spear. Kai Leng, after all, was now the best of the best.

Staff Commander Harold Zeigler had assured him his pick of stations due to his exemplary record...minus a few incidents that were being overlooked, or so they said. Nobody could _really_ blame him for his anti-alien stance. After all, they'd only just fought a war a few short years ago with the Turians. Now they were fighting tooth and nail to gain a foothold in galactic politics and the whole situation galled most humans-well, the ones you bothered to ask about that sort of thing. Kai knew this because he had a lot of...friends who felt the same as he did. He'd gotten into a few minor scuffles over it, but nothing serious. Finally, Kai spotted the base commander who had been speaking with a few of Kai's colleagues and was now on the move.

These types of affairs were small, low-key. That was the nature of special warfare operations though. Everyone who attended in-house ceremonies was military through and through and had the highest levels of security. It made it harder, though, for the Chinese and Russian-born mulatto to make his way through the throng of superior officers and his fellow special operators, to get to his base commander. Salute after salute saw him falling further and further behind as he desperately tried to spot his immediate superior who'd disappeared with a group of staff lieutenants.

Kai Leng was frantic.

Today was Graduation day, yes, but it was ALSO Assignment day. Secure communications would be sent to their Alliance-issue omni-tools detailing their orders; however, that was far too late to prevent the very thing he was struggling against. Kai Leng had wanted to speak personally with the base commander to ensure he got a good posting-one far, far away from working with xeno's. He really, really didn't want to be stationed anywhere in Council space.

He hated aliens...didn't matter if they were nominally friends of humanity either. Simply put, aliens were _god-forsaken abominations_. Saying that Kai Leng 'hated' aliens was like saying the universe was 'big,' He _fucking loathed_ xeno's.

And since today was the day he was to be told where he was going to be stationed for the next four years of his life, he _needed _to speak with his commander-Kai Leng didn't believe in leaving things to fate. But as the ceremony wound down and the newest N7's were allowed to disburse for some much-needed rest and relaxation-including leave-Kai Leng had failed to corner his superior.

It was the first time he'd failed in anything in a very, very long time. Not even surviving the hellish environments of simulated Volus worlds where the pressures, heat, low-oxygen, methane-dominated atmosphere made a mockery out of one's courage was as difficult as saluting _every single officer in the Alliance Navy _that outranked him. They were _all_ here it felt like. Frankly, the whole situation felt like fate was conspiring to upend his incredibly successful (minus some bumps) military career.

As he and a few colleagues moved back towards arcology 13 where they bunked, Kai swore he would not go off-base on leave until he'd squared things away. But fate, apparently, had other plans as he received an email right then and there on his omni-tool. Leave, and the dozen drinks he desperately needed, would have to wait.

Little did Lt. Kai Leng, N7 Marine, realize the whole course of history-and his life-changed with this single, dedicated decision to forgo his leave.

Fifteen minutes later saw him standing before Staff Commander Harold R. Zeigler (according to his placard) or as the N-trainee's knew him, "The Hammer." Zeigler had a reputation for being tough, but fair-and always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt. However, if you crossed him...he broke you like a hammer breaks a nut. This was just the man he'd been wanting to see all day. Now was his chance, but before he could open his mouth, Zeigler's secretary exited the room and the Hammer spoke, "At ease marine. You can take a seat."

"Thank you sir, I prefer to stand."

"It wasn't an offer. Take a seat."

"Yes, sir." Kai Leng sat, seething.

The slightly graying, but still fairly red-haired career-soldier steepled his fingers and stared at him. Slate-gray eyes pinned him to his seat and despite all the methodically-plotted and reasoned arguments he'd had prepared, Kai Leng got the sinking feeling that this man didn't give two shits. Was this about taking those medals from dead officers? That was ages ago! Kai Leng felt the anger begin to seep into his body, but he kept himself ruthlessly rigid and respectful. Those eyes were still assessing him from across the beautiful mahogany desk.

"Congratulations on making it through N7 Leng, that is quite the accomplishment. It takes a certain type of person to be able to persevere like that. You are definitely a credit to the Alliance."

"Thank you sir."

"But here's the deal; today is assignment day marine, and I bet you're wondering why you haven't been assigned."

N7 Marines didn't fidget, so he didn't.

"The thought had crossed my mind sir. But I'm just a soldier. I follow orders."

Ziegler snorted, "Here's the deal; I have a special request coming from on high-lord knows who, but I don't ask-that we send our best combat expert on a Special Assignment. You, Kai Leng, have the best combatives scores across the board-in fact, you've set a fucking record." The man's lips curved in what Kai Leng couldn't describe as anything else but a smile. "Therefore, I have to inform you that you have two choices; one of which I'd like you to consider long and hard before you turn down."

Kai Leng nodded blankly, emotions shuttered like a lantern. "What is the other option sir?"

"Your commanding officer thinks very, very highly of you and wants to assign you a position working joint-task force with Council forces to patrol and suppress the Terminus pirate problem, specifically Elanos Haliat-pirate-king that he is. They seem to think he's planning something big and soon. Anyway, your advocates seem to think you have the ruthless, single-minded focus necessary to make an impression on those bottom-feeding pirates. You and your team will make them regret every second they continue to breathe."

Kai had to suppress the sneer that crept up on his face when he heard the word, 'council.' Action against pirates with a free-hand sounded God-sent, but that meant working with freaks-_aliens_-heathen abominations and Kai Leng, as a god-fearing New Evangelist, didn't think he could stomach a day-let alone _years_-posted on ships working that closely with Satan's creatures. He'd probably snap and kill one on his first day.

No, it was better he take the special assignment.

"Respectfully sir, I am grateful my superior believes in my abilities, but I would very much like to hear more about this special assignment. Sir."

Staff Commander Ziegler sat back in his chair and placed an electronic file on his desk, unfolded old-fashioned spectacles, and cleared his throat before asking him a question that took him aback, "Are you familiar with the Jon Grissom Academy for the Gifted?"

"I can't say I am sir. What does this have to do with me...sir?"

"Hendel Mitra, one of ours, recently had a heart attack and died. There is some suspicion surrounding what happened and so they've asked for the best we have…that is, false modesty aside, you." Here his superior pointed a finger at him and he did feel a sort of muted pride at his accomplishments-the peripheral anger at the death of one of their own didn't really register. Years of his accomplishments being snubbed by his family had led him to go it alone...and as a result, he hadn't really cared how fast he'd shot up the ranks, the enemies he'd made, or the minor scuffles he'd participated in, or how many xeno's he'd killed in secret and in open combat. All there was was the next battle, the next test.

Ziegler continued, "I want you to find out what really happened and report-if we want you to pursue the threat, we will forward you orders to that effect- but you will maintain the cover to the best of your abilities. You will be teaching young biotics-some of which will become Alliance soldiers-to place boot to ass in combatives. Fair enough?"

Could there be any satisfaction to be had for a holy warrior such as him at this Academy for gifted children? God had no words about biotics...except that they shalt not suffer a witch to live. But this hardly counted as witchcraft-did it? He'd have to check on that with the Father, but it was a far cry better than consorting with the devil's handiwork day in and day out right? His immortal soul would be safe.

"When do I begin?"

_**CE 2176: En Route to Elysium, Vetus System in the Petra Nebula, Jon Grissom Academy for the Gifted, SSV Jakarta**_

**Naruto Namikaze**

Odin walked away from the meeting with the Alliance brass feeling a renewed sense of purpose. His life was now the Alliance's-barring any deceit on their part of course. Cerberus would fall and eventually he'd find out what happened to his people. Life made sense again. So it was with a wonderful kind of lightness that Naruto navigated the labyrinthine corridors of the Jakarta with a quiet Anderson at his side. It was obvious something was tugging at his thoughts, so Naruto sighed and quieted his sudden rambunctious energy a bit.

"Something's obviously bothering you, Anderson. Out with it."

Naruto kept moving about ten feet down the corridor towards the elevator that would take them down to the quarters that held his friends before he realized Anderson had stopped. Naruto turned and stared at him. In the short time he'd known him, Naruto had immediately picked up on the iron-clad moral compass Anderson possessed-a compass that had obviously had had true north questioned more than once.

"Naruto-Odin-are you really okay with just being a tool to be used by the Alliance to smite our enemies? To get revenge on Cerberus? Is that all there is? Don't get me wrong, I think Cerberus needs to fall... but..." Naruto was angry all over again. Kurama rumbled in the background, but Naruto ignored him, giving in to the darker emotions. Must they keep questioning him?

Naruto advanced on Anderson slowly, rinnegan activating without his notice. "You all don't fucking get it do you? I'm_ it_. I'm the LAST of my kind. All we knew was war. War, war, war. Our childhood was bladed weapons, blood, and fighting for the person next to you-but I didn't get any of that! I lost out on everything that made life worth living for a ninja. I'm living in a new land, a new culture-one just as dark and bloody as my own and you sit here patronizing me from on high?" Naruto laughed, a chilling laugh that bounced around the empty corridor. "Your first thought was about how to best utilize my skills-admit it! You were _just_ like everybody else, always searching for new ways to kill each other. _And I'm okay with that._ Don't try to make me feel terrible because I find comfort and solace in what I've been trained to do since I was old enough to use a kunai. It is _all I have left_."

Bijuu chakra licked around the edges of his new metal eye-patch, burning little lines an inch long licked out under the edges like solar flares. Naruto whirled around, angry beyond reason and hurting. Battle was clarity-couldn't he see that?

"Fuck you and your misplaced pity."

With that, he stormed away from the stunned Captain and headed into the elevator, chakra-enhanced finger-poke embedding the metal button further into the elevator panel than was healthy for it.

The doors closed and the last thing he saw was a careworn older man looking a little lost.

All of his friends were situated in various dubious positions on the furniture (Tony was upside down and his bulk took up the entirety of the couch) when he walked in. The biotics were given private rooms after the SNAFU in the hangar, were sitting and chatting when he walked in, still angry from his confrontation with Anderson. He'd calmed enough that bijuu chakra wasn't leaking out of his eye though, that was good. The hiss and snap of the door opening made all of his friends look up from sipping their beverages and, in Rat's case, eating a whole package of some type of colorful chip. Crumbs were plastered all over his pimply face.

Naruto had to suppress a smile at seeing them. It amazed him how nice it could be to be among people who could relate to everything he felt.

He should've tried this friends thing earlier.

"Heya boss-man, how'd it go? Whatcha talk about?" Zero looked oddly content where she sat cross-legged amongst people she'd been merely tolerating a month before. Hell, a month before they were probably fighting each other in death matches. But Naruto put it out of his mind as he collapsed onto the cushioned and strange modern-art chair next to Tony's massive bulk.

"I told them everything they wanted to hear-mostly about me, how I came to be there, and what Cerberus was doing. So I laid it all out." Naruto shrugged, looking around at them. Everyone looked suddenly very interested, minus Rat who was stuffing his face. Was it something he'd said?

Angel put her tray of food aside, looking surreptitiously at her compatriots who were suddenly looking elsewhere, she sighed. "Look Odin, we were talking and…"

Naruto cut her off, waving his hands in an overly-exaggerated dismissal.

"I get it you guys. You don't need to apologize-you can do your own thing when we get where we're going. I wasn't going to ask you guys to stick around. It's fine." Everyone stared at him, minus Zero who was flipping herself upside down and swinging her feet into the air.

"What?"

"_I was going to say_ before you went stupid, that we were planning on sticking things out with you. That is, Mark, Tony, and I want to follow you-our families can wait. They're probably dead anyway. We got nothing else." Here she paused, stretching a hang out at him in supplication, "We wanted to be let in on your plans-you know, if you'll have us?" The girl who was utterly singled-minded and ferocious in battle had a bit of red in her cheeks, but was staring him in the face, eyebrows drawn together in a furrowed point, waiting for his answer.

Naruto was stunned; apparently it was all over his face because she sat back quickly and everything went quiet. Tony was the one to break the silence with his strange, lilting accent...and the fact he was still upside down on the couch, face turning a bit red.

"I daresay we've taken you by surprise with our request. Surely you didn't believe we would abandon a comrade?"

Naruto nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He'd led them in battle, sure, but it was do-or-die for most of them-had they actually had a choice? Here, they had a real choice to stay away from the type of life he wanted, one no doubt chock full of suffering and fire and battle. Did this mean Naruto was guilty of making the very same judgments he had accused Anderson of? He sighed.

"I'm the last of my people-uh, I'm an alien. Not human exactly. Cerberus discovered me after I'd been asleep for a long time. I was captured before I could find out what happened to my planet and my family. My eventual goal is to return to my planet and figure things out. The Alliance promised they'd help-whatever I needed. A ship, people, and time off to find my answers."

Here, Odin paused gauging the reactions-which were surprisingly stoic for teenagers, "I just have to put in some time with them, giving them a bit of my life in return. You can't want in on something like that. You just can't and I definitely can't ask that of you!"

Angela and Tony didn't even look at each other before they both smiled at him. Mark had orange crumbs all over his mouth and seemed confused, looking at the bottom of the bag. "We'd follow you to hell and back Odin, you know that." They all laughed as they realized that they actually _had _followed him in hell-and he'd led them out. "-it'll be a grand adventure. What more could a girl-" Beast butted in, "-and guy-" Angela continued without missing a beat, "-ever want? They made us into weapons and we'll use what they gave us to grab life by the cojones and take what we want. If that means working for the Alliance for a bit, well, we've been through worse haven't we?"

An electronic voice cut through their chatter and announced they were jumping through a Mass Relay in fifteen seconds and to brace themselves. At this, Zero finally fell on her head, tumbling ass over teakettle, thoroughly abusing her chair and herself. She spoke as she sat up, ignoring the alarm, "Sorry guys, I mean, this big 'ol happy moment is fucking great and everything… but I want different things in life. No offense of course boss." Naruto waved her away. She continued, "I got big dreams of big money and being the head of a big band of scumbags who rove around pillaging and plundering. _I want to be filthy fucking rich!"_ It seemed so typical of the Zero they'd come to know, focused entirely on herself. But they shook their heads and smiled anyway. '

Naruto let her off the hook.

"So what, you're gonna take over a mercenary band or something?"

Zero smiled and reached for the food on Angela's abandoned tray. Angela slapped her hand away. "Hell yes that's what I'm gonna do. I'ma splatter those bitches and _take _what I want." All of them just nodded sagely and wished her luck.

The ship rocked and they all fell to the side or forward in their seats. A blaring alarm ripped through the corridors and rooms, dim red light appearing and a voice ordered personnel to battle stations. Naruto felt helpless. What the hell were they supposed to do when it was ship on ship combat? You couldn't fight one with a kunai. And wait-didn't Anderson say this was _safe_ territory? Why were they under attack? He sprang to his feet and headed towards the door at a sprint.

Anderson's attache officer Lieutenant Danica, an intimidating, statuesque marine with bright pink hair opened the door and ordered them to follow her. They fell in behind her as they made their way to safer places-which was apparently the hangar. Anderson was waiting for them, with the rest of the Cerberus subjects, there next to a port window that showed exactly what was going on.

A beautiful blue, brown, and white orb spun in space as they hovered uncountable miles away from it. Around it, however, were a thousand ships-tiny fireflies blinking and flashing in the burning red and green of mass accelerator fire. Naruto knew those colors by now. He'd seen them up close. His heart beat faster and his rinnegan, activatngi in response to stress, dilated and slowly rotated picking up more details. The massive ragtag fleet was losing to the much smaller Alliance fleet-from what he could see-but there were only a handful of Alliance ships, cruisers he thought and a few frigates, defending the Grissom Station and the trade-planet of Elysium. Tiny flea-sized specks to the people around him, Naruto could clearly see the pirate ships headed downward on to what Naruto presumed was their destination. There were a _lot _of drop-ships and troop-transports. What was Anderson and Kahoku going to do about getting them to the Academy in the middle of this fucking mess?

Anderson turned to them as he became aware of them. "Their blitzing us, the fucking cowards. The Alliance doesn't maintain a steady presence out here-anywhere really-but we have early warning systems and automated defense platforms for things like this. Those fucking bastards. I hate pirates."

Naruto perked up. Pirates? He'd never fought pirates before… Kurama laughed at him in his mind. _Bloodthirsty kit...I could get used to you._

Anderson breathed in and out and spoke calmly. "I've been ordered to escort you and your fellows down by dropship to the spaceport in Illyria. It should be able to hold given it's strategic position as the capital of Elysium. The garrison should be enough to protect you all while we beat back this attack." Naruto nodded warily as he looked at the fragile-looking UT-47 Kodiak's. He had a bad feeling about this whole plan, but maybe it wouldn't turn out the worst possible way this time? He'd put his faith in Anderson.

Odin nodded again, stronger this time. Marines were dividing the biotic teenagers into groups and funneling them into ships with one marine per group. Anderson went with their group as they stepped into the cramped space of the shuttle. Naruto needed help with his buckles, but when they finally all get settled Naruto felt his blood start to race. Space battles! How awesome! Izuna would be so jealous.

Tony looked faintly nauseous behind small wire-rim spectacles he'd somehow found (where did he get those?), Angela stared straight ahead with the kind of energy reserved for deep terror, and Rat was poking at the electronics of the dropship with a rapt expression. Electronics was his thing.

Naruto gave them his most reassuring smile, all canines and whiskers.

"Relax guys, we're in good hands. What could possibly go wrong?"

* * *

Read and review as always!

Oh, random side note...does anybody know if DLP ( ) hosts any Naruto stories? I'd dearly love to get some good input! Oh, and for Character models, checkout my bio if you are curious as to who I have in mind as a real-life equivalent to the characters. Feel free to leave a review for who you think would be best to represent them in a game-version of the Memoirs-verse!

I'm still trying to think of who would make a good Naruto...

Till next time,

Arte


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